BUJUMBURA April 19th (ABP) – Burundi has been chosen as the first country producing the best coffee in the world during the trade fair called Specialty Coffee Expo 2022, organized by Specialty Coffee Association from April 8 to 10, 2022 at Boston in the United States of America, announced the managing director (ADG) of the Union Abahizi-Transparency, Mr. Lewis Ephraim Itangishaka, during a press conference hosted last week in Bujumbura.
Mr. Itangishaka pointed out that the Union Abahizi-Transparency brings together cooperatives of coffee growers with their own pulping-washing stations and other private coffee companies located in different localities of the country. To achieve its vision of being the model in the management of the coffee sector in Burundi, the Union Abahizi continues to deploy efforts in the direction of enabling its member cooperatives and its private coffee companies to become the managers of their productions to directly benefit from the resulting revenue, he added.
The ADG of the Union Abahizi took the opportunity to inform both the national and international public that the Union Abahizi-Transparency is committed to carrying out the coffee sector in strict compliance with the rules and principles laid down by the Burundi Coffee Development Authority (ODECA). The Union Abahizi-Transparency is delighted with the achievements already made and calls on everyone to do their best in order to make coffee a national pride, as it is for other crops and for other countries. According to him, membership requests made from all over the country testify to the confidence that coffee growers place in the Union Abahizi, stressing also that participation in trade fairs, international fairs or any other international event remains a priority to promote coffee and the image of Burundi. He added that the diversification of income sources by promoting other food crops is an option taken by the Union Abahizi for the benefit of its parent cooperatives in particular and the Burundian economy in general.
The Union Abahizi-Transparency reiterates its commitment to remain at the side of the Burundian coffee grower, member of a cooperative, to help them realize their dreams, underlined Mr. Itangishaka, before pointing out that the doors are open to anyone who wishes to join the Abahizi Union which works in nine provinces of the country. He pointed out that the Abahizi Union is paying the coffee growers for the 3rd round with 100 BIF per kilo for cherry coffee A and 50 BIF for cherry coffee B. He deplored that the age of the coffee producing population in Burundi is between 40 and 60 years old, pointing out that the young population is no longer interested in this crop which brings foreign currency. To that end, he pointed out that the Union Abahizi has already drawn up awareness programs for young people on the growing and sustainability of this crop in Burundi.
Mr. Didier Nduwimana, who was a member of the Burundian delegation of the Union Abahizi in that international fair, indicated that Burundi was chosen from among the 400 coffee producers who were present in Boston, including Brazil, the leading coffee-producing country in the world. According to him, this is good news for Burundi because, he said, our coffee has an incomparable flavor.