EAST LANSING, Mich. — In the landlocked country of Burundi, where 68 percent of its 8.3 million residents live in poverty, coffee is the livelihood of 800,000 farmers.
Coffee accounts for 80 percent of the East African country’s exports. And now, thanks to a first-of-its-kind virtual resource developed by Michigan State University researchers, Burundi is one step closer to entering the international specialty coffee market.
It’s not Maxwell House, said Dan Clay, director of MSU’s global programs in sustainable agri-food systems. Rather, Burundi is producing coffee that sells at higher prices, which means more money for schools, businesses, health care and food.
“The Burundi Coffee Data Base and Knowledge Network serves the entire sector. It’s designed to help Burundi coffee partners through the value chain have all the information they need to be successful, to be more efficient, produce higher quality coffee and access better markets,” Clay said. “This puts Burundi on the map.”
MSU is a major partner in the Burundi Agribusiness Program, a five-year initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development to rebuild the country after its decade-long civil war.
Now in the project’s final leg, Clay and his team have designed http://cafeduburundi.com. MSUglobal staff handled the technical end while researchers produced content. Per the nature of open educational resources, the site offers real-time updates and allows various stakeholders to contribute content. Eventually, the site will be run by InterCafe Burundi, the country’s coffee trade association.
One of the major interests from U.S-based coffee buyers and roasters has been improving access to – and learning about – Burundi’s 160-plus coffee washing stations, Clay said. Since each station produces different coffee flavors, agroecology, information – such as elevation, rainfall, temperature and soil type – is a crucial component of sales.
That information hasn’t been readily available, but now, with a click of a mouse, it’s all there.
The virtual resource also provides policy, law and regulatory information; maps and data; information about exporters, retailers and roasters; and a library comprising hundreds of published resources on the Burundi coffee sector.
“This is information that we were constantly being asked for,” Clay said. “So we literally took the most important documents, in some cases scanned them, and placed them online. Sometimes we take for granted easy access to information.”
From farm to consumer, education is key, Clay said. For example, Clay and his team have so far successfully employed best agronomic practices in 32 pilot washing stations, and share them on the site.
“Producers have no idea who the consumers are or that consumers want to learn about who’s producing the coffee they drink,” Clay said. “But when you start to understand your market, then you can begin to target your practices to meet demand and understand why these relationships with buyers are really important.”
Clay added that consumers don’t need an intricate understanding of Burundi’s coffee market to use the virtual hub of information. Cafeduburundi.com includes a blog; social media plug-ins; photos and videos of farmers; and a coffee art section to teach consumers about the farmers they support.
For more information on MSU’s work with the Burundi coffee market, visit the Burundi Coffee special report.
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