Burundi

Burundi is one of the few African countries that cultivates almost exclusively the Coffea Arabica, sometimes of the highest quality. Coffee production was introduced in Burundi by the Arabs around 1930 and today it represents the primary agricultural resource of the country (coffee accounts for about one third of the country’s total export income). Arabica coffee is produced in the north, in the regions of Ngozi and Muyinga, and in the centre, in the regions of Ruyigiand Gutega. Whereas Robusta is grown in the Imbo plains and along Tanganyika lake.

Arabica coffee plants are cultivated at 1500-2000 metres altitude, they flower in September/October and they are harvested during summer months. Exportations begin in June, from the port of Dar Es Salaam, in Tanzania.

In Rwanda coffee beans are processed almost entirely using the washed method and this country exports around 400,000 sacks each year.