“You should never expect something from someone, but we can grow together. Every time I see my friends, we have the same greeting, “Mugenzi, ntuzerinze.”
My friend, don’t expect something.”
Concilie took on the moniker Mama Claude after the birth of her eldest son, Claude. In Burundi (as in many African countries), it’s tradition that a mother takes on the name of her firstborn child. Her wonderful sense of humor, poise, and humility seem to know no bounds.
Mama Claude’s modest brick home, with its teal-blue door and walkway lined with banana trees, is built close to the dirt road that runs through Gahaga hill in Burundi. She lives here with a brood of children and grandchildren- not all hers. If you ever pass by her house, it’s rare to find her there. She’s most likely out working in a field somewhere, whether it’s her own plot of land or helping a friend. As an active member of a Women’s Village Savings and Loan Association, and the Red Cross Association, she’s always busy with something.
Most mornings, she’s up before the sun, cooking breakfast for her family and small team of laborers before heading out the door for the day, a thermos of hot tea in hand.
Mama Claude started farming in 1970, when she was just sixteen years old. She doesn’t just farm coffee; she’s also a tea farmer, and grows an assortment of subsistence crops to sell and feed her family. To her, growing coffee is the means to nourishing her family. Over the years, she’s divided up 600 coffee trees between her eleven grown children, leaving her now with just sixty to look after.
“When I was younger, I was stronger and could farm more quickly.”
At age sixty-six, she now finds it more difficult to farm. The changing climate has brought about significant challenges to coffee farmers in Burundi: prolonged drought, delayed rains and at times not enough rain. The soil, she says, is not as fertile as it used to be and erosion occurs more frequently. Before, people in her community used to plant without using fertilizer and could expect high yields. Now, it’s difficult to grow crops without animals or fertilizer because the soil has become too acidic.
“It’s sad to see someone farming who doesn’t get production. We have to work together to improve our production, our well-being and the well-being of those who buy our crops.”
“I was in my kitchen cooking dinner. I was going to cook taro1 on firewood and had just lit a lamp that I bought on credit. Sometimes my children help me to cook but this is my job.”
“This is Melanie. We are in an association called Twungurane ubumenyi which means “Improving our skills together”. We’ve been taught how to build a kitchen garden. I took this picture because she has a nice kitchen garden with many kinds of vegetables. You cannot be a member of this association without having a kitchen garden.”
“An employee who was painting our new house with red-colored cement. Even if building a house requires a lot of money, it provides good health and honor in the community. As the house has many rooms, we will be hosting guests. We will give our old house to our young children who are still studying, and we hope that they will transform it.”
“A man who was looking for clay. In one ditch, you can find different kinds of clay. At the top, there is a black clay and after digging deeply, you can find gray clay that can make good quality and expensive bricks.”
“I took this picture of the tiles to show development. When you use them, it is like taking a step forward. Making tiles requires a special clay that you cannot find everywhere. Tiles are less expensive than metal sheets and last for many years.”
Footnotes
1. Taro is a white-fleshed root vegetable that has a mildly sweet taste and a texture like potato. It is widely grown and eaten in Burundi.
“Before + Now” is dedicated to bringing the voices of marginalized coffee farmers into the field of vision of everyday coffee consumers. It includes a series of photographs made by coffee farmers in Burundi, East Africa as well as a large-format portrait of each farmer. This series makes it possible not only to see life in East Africa and the coffee process; but also to connect clearly with the dreams, fears, and hopes of coffee farmers. Read more about “Before + Now” here.
Gervais is a seventy-nine year old coffee farmer from the small, coffee-producing nation of Burundi, East Africa. He started farming coffee in 1960, when Burundi was just two years shy of gaining its independence from Belgian rule. As the oldest person in his community, he has dubbed himself as the “grandfather of Gaharo hill”; the area where he lives and grows his coffee. That, and the fact that his grandchildren seem to follow him wherever he goes.
“My house is close to the road. Children in the community often pass by my home to visit. I am also the oldest person in my community. I am like the grandfather of Gaharo hill.”
Growing up, his father- a traditional beekeeper- taught him how to build a beehive from the wood of the umwungo tree(more commonly known as polyscias fulva, an evergreen indigenous to Burundi). Even though he never became a beekeeper himself, Gervais still grows these trees to sell the wood.
If you ask him, Gervais will tell you that his coffee farm is a source of pride and joy. He used to have just under 300 Heirloom Bourbon coffee trees planted on the same plot of land that his house stands on, but as he’s gotten older, he’s started giving them away to his children. As an avid member of Farmer Field School, Gervais’ coffee farm is a model that other farmers in the community can visit to learn best farming practices from him.
“The governor of Muramvya1 once visited my plantation during a local spraying campaign because it is so nice.”
Over the years, he has planted banana palms, bamboo, and avocado trees alongside his coffee to diversify his farm and protect the soil. At one point, he even started a red wiggler worm farm. More recently, Gervais has started producing organic fertilizer for his coffee trees by composting banana stalks and leaves with ash leftover from cooking.
When we asked Gervais what he’ll do with the photos he took, he replied,
“I am going to show my children the photos I took. I want them to remember that I worked in coffee.”
“This is my grandchild. He always comes with me to my plantation. He follows me, wherever I go. He knows that coffee is important. He knows that if we have coffee, we have rice.”
“I was pruning my trees. I always wear my suit. When I was young, I had many suits. Now, I only have this one.”
“My daughter. She was watering the vegetables outside our house.”
“The women who were sorting coffee at the washing station. I love this washing station. It’s encouraging to see women working in coffee, looking after plantations and earning money.”
Footnotes
Muramvya is a province in the central part of the country, and also Gervais’ home province.
“Before + Now” is dedicated to bringing the voices of marginalized coffee farmers into the field of vision of everyday coffee consumers. It includes a series of photographs made by coffee farmers in Burundi, East Africa as well as a large-format portrait of each farmer. This series makes it possible not only to see life in East Africa and the coffee process; but also to connect clearly with the dreams, fears, and hopes of coffee farmers. Read more about “Before + Now” here.
October 24, 2020 is a day that will go down in the history books of Long Miles Coffee. The date marks our official launch of Long Miles Kenya, and our first day of coffee harvest in Kirinyaga County. Not long after that, our first fully washed micro-lots of the season hit the drying tables.
Thunguri Washing Station in Kirinyaga County, Kenya
How did Long Miles Kenya start?
In partnership with Haron Wachira from Akili Holdings Ltd., we have refurbished Thunguri Coffee Factory in Kirinyaga County, Mount Kenya (just east of Nyeri County). In the past, the coffee factory existed to serve the Wachira family and a few of their neighbors who grow coffee in the region. While the Akili Group is not solely focused on coffee, we share the same vision of working with small-scale farmers to improve their coffee production, access to markets, and the price paid for the coffee they produce. Long Miles Kenya will be a long-term partnership with the Wachira family, and the communities of coffee growers in the Mount Kenya region.
During a year [2020] in which travel was seemingly impossible, our founders, head of quality control, managing director, and story team were able to visit and connect with a community of coffee growers in Kirinyaga County who are committed to producing high quality Kenyan coffee. Check out the highlights from our team’s visit here. We’ve sown the seeds for our Coffee Scout program, and will soon start building a team of young agronomists whose mission will be to work alongside our partner coffee growers, empowering them with best farming practices and any support that they might need to produce quality coffee.
How did the harvest season go?
In our inaugural coffee season, (a low harvest year for coffee growers around the country), we collected and processed a small volume of cherry from twenty partner coffee farmers living around Thunguri Coffee Factory, modelling how we produce micro-lots in Burundi. While our inaugural harvest season in Kenya may seem low, building trust within a new community takes time. We’re still listening to, learning from, and getting to know the communities of coffee farming families in the region.
Our team also visited and worked on quality control measures with other farmer-owned coffee washing stations as well as private estates in the region, and cupped through the coffees that they produced this season. Our intention is always to produce our own coffee, but in these early days of establishing Long Miles Kenya we will also be sharing the coffees produced by other coffee washing stations that we enjoyed tasting on the cupping table.
Haron Wachira of Akili Holdings Ltd., and Ben Carlson, co-founder of Long Miles Coffee, at Thunguri Washing Station
We’ve also been thinking about the possibility of starting a Long Miles Coffee Farm in Western Kenya for a while. After looking for over a year, we’ve found a piece of land at 2200masl, close to the edges of a national forest park in Western Kenya. Follow the updates that Ben shared during his recent trip to Kenya here. We’ll soon be planting our first SL-28 coffee trees on this piece of land, pursuing regenerative farming practices. We’ll also continue the works of our reforestation project, Trees For Kibira, in this region, planting out green belts of trees, and encouraging the practice of shade-grown coffee.
Where can I find Long Miles Kenya coffee?
We’ll keep you updated on where you’ll soon be able to find a bag of roasted Long Miles Kenya coffee. In the meantime, we’re receiving pre-shipment sample materials of our Kenyan coffees over the next couple of weeks. If you’re interested in receiving samples, please let us know!
“To have a washing station at Ninga is like a country that fought for independence, and got it. I will always celebrate this victory. No one will take it from us.”
We have been thinking about building a coffee washing station on Ninga hill for years. It’s been on our minds ever since we opened the doors of Bukeye, the first washing station that we built, for our inaugural coffee harvest in Burundi. We wrote about this not so long ago. Looking back, it has taken us close to seven years to make Ninga Washing Station happen.
Ninga hill is seated in the Butaganzwa Commune, an incredibly competitive and politically-charged area to work in. During those early years of producing coffee, we found that coffee farmers from Ninga and its surrounding sub-hills were streaming into our Bukeye Washing Station, walking more than fifteen kilometres (a journey that can take up to three hours by foot) to deliver their cherries. After speaking with some of these farmers and visiting their coffee farms, our team soon realized that they were producing quality coffee but didn’t want to deliver their cherries to other nearby washing stations because they felt like they couldn’t trust them with their coffee. Corruption, unbalanced scales, mistreatment of the coffee farming community, and delayed payments for coffee delivery broke farmers’ trust with other washing stations that over-promised and under-delivered.
“Times are not the same. I still remember when I was imprisoned because I refused to stop delivering my own coffee at Bukeye Washing Station. There was a strong hope of having a washing station at home. One night, during that time, I sat in my house thinking about the future of my coffee, but I couldn’t see it.”
– Tharcisse from Ninga hill in Burundi.
Hearing a similar, disheartening account from people on Ninga hill over and over again, it was clear to our team that something needed to change.
2017
That opportunity presented itself to us near the end of 2017, when we were able to buy a piece of land seated at 1900masl on Ninga hill that was flanked by the Nkokoma River.
2018
We applied to the National Coffee Board at the beginning of the year for authorization to start construction of the washing station. It took ten months for the board to set up a “technical commission” to check that the land had everything it needed. Does it really belong to Long Miles? Check. Is there a fair distance between where our washing station will go and other washing stations in the area? Check. Would coffee farmers in the area find it valuable to have another washing station here? Check. Would processing coffee here have any negative implications on the environment? Check. Will the washing station’s activities be profitable? Check.
2019
In October, more than a year after the technical commission had been set up, we were finally able to sign off all of the necessary paperwork and got permission to start the build of Ninga Washing Station. However, the country’s coffee sector was going through major shifts at the time. The restructuring of Burundi’s National Coffee Board coupled with rumblings of the government nationalizing the coffee sector caused a number of delays for the start of construction, and a landslide of uncertainty for coffee producers in the country.
2020
The new National Coffee Board was in place, and the rumours of nationalizing Burundi’s coffee sector were at bay. With harvest opening early April, forty-five newly built drying tables, and our McKinnon yet to be installed, we decided to start producing our first natural processed micro-lots of the season- the only coffees to be processed at Ninga Washing Station that year. By the end of August, we held the first farmer payday day at our official Ninga Washing Station site and celebrated alongside our partnering coffee farmers.
“For five years, I’ve didn’t participate in payday because it was far from home. I used to pay someone to go and collect my money on payday. I was so happy to meet with other people from around the entire hill and even saw a friend that I hadn’t seen in twenty years! I thought that she might have died because so many from our generation have. It was a great day.”
– Matilda, a seventy-five year-old old coffee farmer from Ninga hill.
What does building Ninga Washing Station mean for the future of coffee on Ninga hill?
“Having a washing station in our area is a big development, not only for coffee farmers but for everyone in our community.”
During the construction of the washing station, 200 hundred people were employed representing almost the same numbers of households from the community. We’ve been encouraged to hear that the washing station will bring change for those growing coffee in the area too.
“What is important is that we now have a washing station at home. Things at the washing station are organized, the farmer card system is fair, and the scales are good. You’re not stealing our coffee. This is encouraging.”
– Leonard, coffee farmer from Gikungere, close to Ninga hill.
Many farmers from Ninga hill won’t have to walk as far to deliver their cherries, which will help to shorten the time between coffee being picked and coffee being pulped at our washing station. This shortened time helps to reduce the risk of enzymatic reactions taking place within the coffee cherries that could impart unwanted flavour to the finished cup of coffee, and allows for the greatest potential of consistency going into pulping.
“I thought about stopping to grow coffee, but glory to God, the hope that was in me did not accept defeat! This is a victory. It is a miracle! I helped to build the washing station, and am now working as a guard. I have a story to tell to my grandchildren. Ninga Washing Station is bringing a new beginning of growing coffee. In my mind, I am like a new coffee farmer. It is amazing.”
– Tharcisse from Ninga hill in Burundi.
With our newly fitted McKinnon and the final touches happening at the washing station, we’re looking forward to producing fully washed and natural process coffees this season. We’ll also be experimenting with anaerobic lots, so keep your eyes peeled for our updates when coffee harvest opens in Burundi next month!
Coffee has a storied history in Burundi. It was introduced to the country in the 1920s under Belgian colonial rule. By the early 1930s, all of the farmers in the country were given coffee seedlings and forced to cultivate them with very little resources, support, or compensation to do so.
“I started growing coffee when Burundi was still colonized by the Belgians. During that time growing coffee was very different compared to today. First of all, we were growing coffee by force. Sometimes, we were even beaten. We had no idea of what we were doing. What I remember is that they [Belgian colonizers] used to tell us that we must cultivate coffee, because it will help us in the future.” – Charles Ntandikiye, 83-year-old farmer from Gaharo hill.
“First of all, we were growing coffee by force.”
Shortly after the country’s independence in 1962, the coffee sector was privatized. But by 1972, the government had regained control over it. In 1993, the country’s first set of democractic elections took place and the first president was voted into power. Not long after that, the president was assassinated during an attempted coup d’état. The weeks that followed this were marked by civil war and violence; a rebel campaign encouraging farmers to rip out their coffee trees to destabilize the economy. Many people- both in the city and in the rural parts of the country- fled from their land, seeking safer regions elsewhere in Burundi or crossing the borders into neighboring Tanzania, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some stayed where they were the entire time.
Those who did eventually return often came back only to find that their land had been displaced or claimed by someone else. Since then, the coffee sector has slowly been returning to its previously privatized state.
“Although I started cultivating coffee by force, I didn’t stop when the Belgians left the country because I realized that what they had told us was true. I have seen the benefits of the coffee crop in my family’s life. When I’ve gotten money from coffee, I’ve paid for school fees, bought clothes, and paid my workers. I will cultivate coffee for the rest of my life.”
“I will cultivate coffee for the rest of my life.”
Charles Ntandikiye, a Burundian coffee farmer, stands amongst his coffee trees.
Not all farmers feel the same way as Charles does. Over the years, we’ve heard many reports from farmers that they’ve since ripped out the coffee trees from their farms and planted beans or potatoes instead. When your introduction to growing coffee was by force and its history stained by political instability and conflict, it’s understandably hard to be passionate about growing it.
But, the Long Miles Coffee Scouts are working to see this change.
The Long Miles Coffee Scouts walking to visit Farmer Field School team members on their farms.
Together with Epa Ndikumana, Social and Environmental Impact Leader at Long Miles, the Coffee Scouts have formed Farmer Field Schools (FFS). Why? To equip any interested farmers with the resources, support, or encouragement that they need to continue growing coffee.
The only criteria for becoming a FFS team member is this: you must be a coffee farmer.
Before starting the first field school, the Coffee Scouts held a meeting on each of the hills that we collect coffee from, asking the coffee farming communities in these regions if they were interested in creating model coffee farms. Those who wanted to join were trained in best agricultural practices and every week since then have been meeting up on a host coffee farm.
Gervais Ngendabanka, a Bukeye Farmer Field School team member, about to prune his coffee trees.
Together, they get stuck in helping with the farming activities that need to be done on the host farm that day: from planting to pruning, fertilizing, weeding, spraying, mulching, scouting for antestia bugs, and restoring soil health. It’s not just the Farmer Field School team members who can take part; anyone from the farming community can join them to observe, ask questions, share ideas, problem-solve, and learn from what’s happening on these host farms.
“I started growing coffee in 1995, but I only started pruning my trees five years ago when I heard about it from the Coffee Scouts. Pruning is very important! It has helped to increase the quantity of cherries my coffee trees produce. I’ve also heard that it increases the quality of the coffee, but I don’t know much about that. Pruning is also hard because you have to wait three years until the trees start producing cherries again.” – Odule Manirakiza, Bukeye FFS team member from Gaharo hill.
A group of Farmer Field School team members from Bukeye.
Since the first field school started back in 2015, the team members have planted coffee trees, nitrogen-fixing plants, green manures, a mix of indigenous plants, and shade trees on their farms. Between 2015-2017, the 287 FFS members spread between Bukeye and Heza Washing Station have doubled their yield of coffee cherry production. The Bukeye FFS team members have seen an increase in yield of coffee cherry from 1kg to 2.1kg per tree, while the Heza FFS team members have seen an increase from 1.5kg to 3kg per tree.
Unfortunately, in 2019, there was a noticeable decline in the FFS team members’ cherry production due to the limited access to fertilizer in the country, and the compounding effect of climate change.
Selectively hand-picking coffee cherries.
During the peak of coffee harvest in Burundi, the FFS team members usually only meet once a week on a host farm to learn how to selectively hand-pick, float, and sort coffee cherries at home before delivering them to the nearest Long Miles Washing Station. In 2020, it was observed that because most of the FFS team members had developed these practices, they didn’t need to spend any unnecessary time at our washing stations re-sorting their cherries for quality.
Up until now, these FFS lots have been processed together with the ~5,500 farming families who deliver to our Long Miles Washing Stations. 2020 was the first year that we’ve collected and processed FFS lots separately to see if the team members’ training and collective efforts have also made a difference in the quality of their coffee on the cupping table.
According to our quality assurance team, at 86.5, the average cup score for FFS lots was almost exactly the same as the average cup score for non-FFS lots. A statistic that stood out as markedly different, however, was the percentage of lots that were not deemed to be micro-lot quality. When our team scores day lots, they need to make a fairly quick assessment of a large number of coffees. For our purposes, the most important quality cutoff point is 86. Coffees that score below 86 points get blended into our “Hills” lots. Coffees that score above 86 get sold as micro-lot quality. Of the non-FFS lots produced in 2020, ~19% did not meet our quality standards to be sold as micro-lot quality coffee. For FFS lots, however, this number was only ~17%. While two percent is small, it is not statistically insignificant as it represents hundreds of pounds of finished green coffee.
However, if we were to focus solely on the improvement of a coffee’s cup score as the main outcome of FFS, we would fall short of the very reason for its existence. Farmer Field School is not just about growing quality Burundi coffee; it’s about the practice of showing up every week. It’s a commitment from farmers to learn from, listen to, and exchange ideas with each other on which farming practices are most effective. It’s about asking questions like, “Have the farming practices we use made a notable impact on the productivity of our coffee trees; on the biodiversity of our coffee farms; on soil health?”
Partially stumped coffee tree.
Although the idea of running a Farmer Field School was initiated by Epa and facilitated by the Coffee Scouts, the farmers involved have taken full ownership of the field school and its activities.
“In 2017, I stumped all of the coffee trees on my farm. Then, in 2020, I harvested double the yield of cherry that I used to get before pruning. The Coffee Scouts have helped me to understand the different ways of taking care of my coffee farms. I remember the first time they told me to stump my coffee trees, because they are old. In my heart I was thinking, “These young people don’t know what they’re saying. Cutting down coffee trees? No way!” But now, I’m encouraging other farmers to do the same thing.” – Firmin Niyibizi, Bukeye FFS team member from Gaharo hill.
In my heart I was thinking, “These young people don’t know what they’re saying. Cutting down coffee trees? No way!”
Farmer Field School has encouraged these communities to continue growing coffee; to not give up hope despite the incredible challenges that they have faced in the past and may continue to face in the future. It has also empowered the communities of coffee farmers we partner with to work together in teams rather than in isolation; to continue to share ideas and use the farming practices that are most effective in improving the productivity of Burundi coffee.
