Burundi's coffee sector is expected to gain from an expanded export market and international exposure following the entry of giant US coffee buyer, Starbucks, into that market. Starbucks recently said it will work with Burundi coffee farmers to develop and expand the sector. Said to be the world's largest coffee retailer, the company is already partnering with coffee farmers in the region in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Kenya.
Economists believe coffee, Burundi's largest export revenue earner, has the potential to spur the country's economic growth. The Burundi government is currently facing the difficult task of reviving a shattered economy and building a sense of national unity after a bloody 12-year civil war. The country's coffee market is currently regulated by the Coffee Board of Burundi (OCIBU). The board strives to co-ordinate the coffee sector, as well as to define and promote the commodity's standards.
Recently Starbucks sponsored a delegation from the coffee board to visit its buying centre in Lausanne, Switzerland as part of its effort to assist the Burundi government to build capacity and exposure in the world coffee markets. Starbucks executives will visit Burundi this month to determine the level of intervention required by the industry.
Starbucks has recently embarked on a programme to support the coffee sector in Africa on which its own success is built. The company says in its business reports that Africa is home to the world's finest coffees, and it is increasingly emerging as the continent's biggest buyer. For instance, Rwanda's coffee industry has taken off in recent years with the strengthening of relations between Kigali and Starbucks, the single biggest buyer of the country's coffee. The introduction of Starbuck's new brand "Rwandan Blue Bourbon" in 5,000 of its retail coffee shops has provided the Rwandan coffee industry with invaluable marketing and global exposure. The arrangement with Starbucks was made possible after the US Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered with Rwanda to upgrade coffee farming and processing infrastructure in the country. Demand for the country's coffee is reported to have increased with a major American retail chain, Costco, now selling Rwandan coffee. USAID estimates that about 40,000 of Rwanda's 500,000 coffee farmers have doubled their incomes in recent years.
In Tanzania, Starbucks, has entered into a partnership with the Association of Kilimanjaro Specialty Coffee Growers Association (KILCAFE), a small-scale farmers group launched in 2001, providing fee-based credit and marketing services to the growers. The association is Tanzania's largest farmers' unit with about 80 member-farmer groups representing more than 7,000 smallholder farmers from the Kilimanjaro, Mbinga and Mbeya growing regions. Starbucks is also the Tanzania's biggest coffee buyer and supporter of KILICAFE. Since entering into the partnership, Starbucks has tripled coffee orders from KILICAFE, directly influencing the
income of over 10,000 smallholder coffee producers.
In 2006, Starbucks paid $1.42 per pound for premium coffee, an increase of 36 per cent per pound over the average market price of $1.04 per pound.
Meanwhile representatives of the government of Ethiopia and of Starbucks recently announced that they have completed two days of constructive discussions and the parties have agreed in principle to sign a licensing, distribution and marketing agreement that recognises the importance and integrity of Ethiopia's specialty coffee names.
allafrica.com
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