Izuba
 
Region: Runinya, Kayanza Province
Country: Burundi
Altitude: 1500 - 1700 MASL
Variety: Red Bourbon
Process: Washed
 
Sourced by Raw Material.
 
Context
Izuba meaning “sun” in Kirundi, is located in Runinya,
Kabarore Commune, of Kayanza Province. The Izuba washing station is set close to a nearby river, providing
a vital and regular freshwater source for coffee
processing. The station is managed by Ntama
Appolinaire, who works alongside Prosper Merrimee,
the operational manager of RM Burundi. Izuba
employs 2 full-time staff and around 250 seasonal
workers, who are all local to the station. Izuba is
situated near to the Kibira national park, where the soil
and climate are paired well for fantastic coffee
production.
 
Kigeri, Ryamukona, and Mugoyi are the three hills
(collines) surrounding Izuba and the three areas in
which coffee is collected or delivered from. Each
volume of cherry sold to Izuba is recorded by producer
and hillside, showing the minute variances in profile
from locations surrounding the washing station. In
2020 we bought coffee from 1482 producers, 1169 of
which were male and 313 female (around 26%). We
processed 453,000kg of cherry, the max capacity of
the station is 800,000kg.
 
Processing
Izuba currently produces washed coffees and is
actively developing both honey and natural processed
lots, which will become larger in volume this year.
Washed coffees are fermented for around 12 hours
and dried for an average of 20 days. Naturals take
around 30 days of drying time.
Potato defect is tackled firstly through very thorough
floating of cherries and then primarily by extensive wet
sorting (this is the hand sorting that takes place under
cover when the coffee has just been pulped and is still
wet- the potato defect beans are most visible at this
point). Two new additional wet sorting sheds were
added in 2020 to further improve this process. Once
the coffee has been fully processed, the remaining
coffee pulp is turned into a natural fertiliser as it
degrades. When ready, it is distributed to local farmers
to add nutrients to their soil.
 
Payment
The station aims to provide premiums where possible
to not only the farmers but the station staff also. The
employees were paid 25% higher than other local
washing stations and 33% more than the national
average salary. Producers are paid government-set
prices for coffee cherries, in 2020 these were:
Cherry A (ripe) 550 BIF/kg
Cherry B (underripe, floaters etc) 275 BIF/KG
Producers are paid for cherry on two set payment
dates in the year, which are also set by the
government. The first is usually in April, very early in
the harvest, and the second at the end of the harvest.
Farmers essentially choose which station they will sell
to that year through the first payment then deliver
there for the whole season. At the end of the season
third payments are made based on the quality and
final sale price of the coffee. Making these three
payments on time is a key concern for producers and
one of Izuba's primary goals in supporting producers.