The secret of success? Never, ever give up. - by Ines Ciza

Women of Burundi are getting involved in the coffee industry

Eager to participate and learn more

Women of Burundi are courageous, persistent and resilient

In Burundi, coffee is the basis of the country’s economy and the main exporting crop, accounting for around 80% of export revenues. Roughly 600,000 householders are coffee farmers which means that 95% of the active populations - among them 60% are women -depend directly on coffee farming for the main source of cash income.

Women are getting involved in the coffee industry, eager to participate and learn more: to pick the right coffee cherry, to practice the best harvesting techniques, to understand the latest pest control and fertilizing methods for their coffee trees. They are learning more about their product, improving the quality, maintaining good practices on their properties so that they will be able to make better sales and show their children that there is indeed a future life in the coffee production.

As a vivid example, allow me to tell you a story; in Burundi we organized the Cup of Excellence 2014 and the closing ceremony was held on August 16th, 2014. Among the 27 winning lots, 2 of the 27 were from coffee cultivated exclusively by women of which one of them won 2nd place. These two winning lots came from the village of Kayanza in Burundi where there are two washing stations: SEGEC and Kayanza. We can say the winner was not ONE woman, but a GROUP of women who won.
 
This goes to show how women have made the decision to get involved in the coffee industry by building and improving their abilities. Women of Burundi are courageous, persistent and resilient when they put their mind on something, such as this “quiet” revolution.

Being among the winning lots of this competition proved to these hard working women as well as to others that they can indeed do what many were saying they couldn’t: these women will never give up!