BUJUMBURA September 6th (ABP) – The president of the coffee production cooperative located at Mayemba hill in Nyabiraba commune of Bujumbura province (west of Burundi), Mr. Nicodème Ndimurirwo indicated, on Tuesday, September 5, 2023 to the ABP, that the cooperative of which he chairs is facing various challenges.
Mr. Ndimurirwo immediately clarified the reasons for such a name. “It is called Tuzamurane-Mayemba because at ANACOOP, there were several associations which bear the name Tuzamurane”.
He also indicated that the members of the said cooperative are all coffee growers, they sell their production to the cooperative factory which distributes it to sell dry coffee.
However, he lamented, their production is handicapped by the lack of water. Previously they were connected to water by REGIDESO, but currently that company has cut off that water and uninstalled the water pipe which arrived at the unloading factory, reported Mr. Ndimurirwo, before revealing that they contributed money to buy pipes that can carry water to the plant.
The cooperative also faces the dire lack of a modern leaf-clearing machine. The one they have is of the category of small machines formerly installed on the hills.
In future plans, the president of the Tuzamurane-Mayemba cooperative indicated that they intend to increase coffee production by expanding coffee fields, but they are faced with a lack of land.
He further stressed that coffee remains in the hands of the elderly, regretting that young people no longer show enthusiasm for coffee. They preferred to grow corn for which the market was doing well. For example, he said, last year the price of a kg of corn grains was 2,500 BIF, while the price of cherry coffee was 800 BIF and it was easy to make the choice.
Today, he said, the kg of cherries has increased and gone from 800 to 1250 BIF and if it continues to rise, young people will also find it interesting to grow coffee, he said.