Helped create the AMKA coffee grower cooperative,
which has 1,400 members
Kivu coffee is a local vector for development: the Kivu region (DRC) has ideal conditions for producing high-quality Arabica coffee as it is at a good altitude and has a warm, humid climate.
This project is the starting point for the activities of COMEQUI ASBL (= fair trade) and is based around three pillars:
The AMKA cooperative has over 1,400 members who grow coffee on the shore of Lake Kivu, has set up its administrative and financial organisation to apply for Fair Trade certification, provides training for its members and promotes the cooperative’s products among Belgian coffee merchants.
The creation and maintenance of nine decentralised nurseries in the Minova area to provide seedlings of the finest varieties of coffee to small producers, free of charge. Since 2009, over 1,400,000 Arabica seedlings have been distributed and now produce a large quantity of high-quality coffee.
The building of a modern coffee washing station and the installation of a pulper at Lutumba so that the coffee can be processed under the best conditions and allow growers to offer purchasers excellent quality coffee, and receive a much higher price for it, allowing them to have much more acceptable living conditions.
COMEQUI continues its activities to help coffee growers by focusing on training and supervision in the field. Special attention is paid to managing the coffee washing station and improving means for transporting the coffee.
Improving the transport of ‘coffee cherries’ to the washing station: Tractors – Boats – Small lorries.
Objectives: ease the physical work of women over long distances and shorten the time between harvest and processing.
Creation of a coffee academy: launch of specific training modules for members of cooperatives we are supervising and to secondary schools and agricultural colleges.
Objectives: improve crop productivity and coffee harvesting. This will have a direct impact on the income of the farmers as they will produce exceptional quality coffee in the long-term.
Finalise the building of a new washing plant north of Minova.
Helped create the AMKA coffee grower cooperative,
which has 1,400 members
Creation of nine nurseries with 1,400,000 Arabica seedlings.
Creation of a washing station with a pulper
Creation of drying beds
Two harvests per year, producing 1,000 T of coffee cherries, or 200 T of parchment coffee