”I want to develop the plantation, so that I can hand it over to my children and grandchildren.” – Kavira.
Congo was once a country where coffee growers produced 120,000 tons of coffee per year, growing one of the country's most important exports. However, due to the conflicts in the country, many plantations were destroyed, which contributed to a drastic decrease in coffee production and many families who previously made a living from growing coffee lost their primary source of income.
After decades of war and unrest, the coffee industry is finally starting to recover, coffee makers are starting to dream of becoming self-sufficient and regaining their professional pride.
Coffee maker Kavira is a dreamer and doer
Kavira grew up in the village of Kamande, located in the Lubero region of Congo. Here, her family has grown and harvested coffee for generations, but when the conflicts raged in the country, Kavira, like many other coffee farmers, changed tack and began growing kidney beans and cassava to support her family. Now, the dream of once again making a living from coffee has become a reality, and with her two plantations, Kavira delivers 4,200 kilos of coffee per season.
Premium quality
Running a plantation requires a lot of work and for Kavira to be able to sell her coffee as premium coffee requires a lot of preparation. During the harvest season, Kavira needs to employ around 25 people who help her, among other things, by picking ripe coffee berries by hand. Coffee berries that are hand-picked must be transported to the cooperative's washing station the same day, for processing, to achieve premium quality (washing is the process of removing the pulp around the coffee bean). As a result, Kavira also gets paid well for her harvest.
The importance of the coffee cooperative
In recent years, coffee cooperatives in Congo have played a very important role in the Congolese coffee industry. Coffee cooperatives are organized, often with competent people in the organization who structure and support the coffee growers (who are members) with training and guidance with the help of agronomists employed by the coffee cooperative. Since 2005, Kavira has been a member of the coffee cooperative that we at Rutasoka work with. She receives training and guidance from an agronomist on how to manage the crops in a sustainable way.
Family means a lot to her.
Kavira is married and has seven children, some of whom have finished primary school and others are still in school. When she is not at the plantation, which is 25 minutes from her home, she clears weeds on her farm, fixes the irrigation system, that is, prepares for rainwater from the river to flow down to the crops, now that there has been little rain due to climate change.
Since Rutasoka started in May 2017, we have purchased over 100 tons of green coffee from Congo, which has meant that more than 1,400 families have received fair pay for their work. We want to help create hope that together we can revive the Congolese coffee industry again and the coffee makers can regain their professional pride. In addition, we are actively working to increase awareness of the good Congolese coffee in Sweden and eventually in the Nordic countries and Europe. With our reinvestments, we contribute, among other things, to ensuring that the coffee farmers can continue to develop their plantations so that we can continue to enjoy the good coffee from Congo together.
