CONGO VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK COFFEES

VUGHOLE

Located at the border with Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, the Kivu area is home to coffees with stunning cup profiles. While the area is subject to ongoing conflicts, cooperation between coffee farmers, Farm Africa, and the Virunga National Park is encouraging peace through the growing of specialty coffee. Established in 1925, the Virunga National Park is the oldest national park in Africa and one of the last refuges of the mountain gorilla. It is also home to highly endangered lowland gorillas as well as savannah elephants, chimpanzees, lions, leopards, and antelopes.

It has the largest diversity of birdlife in the world. Due to its location in eastern DR Congo, the park faces many existential challenges. For Virunga National Park, the conservation of its extraordinary wildlife and the promotion of the social and economic well-being of the people of

Together with the municipality, Antônio introduced a rural school that serves workers and community kids directly on the farm.

North Kivu who live around the park go hand in hand. Through the Virunga Alliance, which is supported by the provincial authorities, civil society, and the private sector, the National Park is investing in a number of initiatives to promote economic regeneration, most notably a major hydro-electric generation and distribution venture. This is already creating employment opportunities as well as access to electricity for thousands of households.

The park is also embarking on a major agriculture programme with the vision of boosting the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who live around the park by investing in the production and marketing of their food crops and their cash crops, including coffee. In this way, the pressure on farmers to encroach on the park to extract wood for charcoal will be reduced, and farmers will see positive benefits from the park’s presence.

COFFEE PROJECT WITH FARM AFRICA

The borders of the Virunga National Park, including the slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains and the uplands to the north-west of Lake Edward, contain some of the finest Arabica coffee-growing land in the world. The climate is temperate, with plentiful rainfall and sunshine, volcanic soils, and altitudes rising to over 2,000 metres. Smallholder farmers here have long grown heirloom bourbon varieties, but until very recently, post-harvest processing was very basic, and the only buyers were informal traders.

Through the Virunga Alliance, which is supported by the provincial authorities, civil society, and the private sector, the National Park is investing in a number of initiatives to promote economic regeneration, most notably a major hydro-electric generation and distribution venture. This is already creating employment opportunities as well as access to electricity for thousands of households. Virunga National Park is running a major agriculture programme aimed at boosting the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who live around the park by investing in the production and marketing of their crops, including coffee. In this way, the pressure on farmers to encroach on the park will be reduced, and farmers will experience positive benefits from the park’s presence. The programme is designed to boost the livelihoods of more than 7,000 coffee farming families living on the border of Virunga National Park. The project approach is based on implementing a holistic and sustainable farming model, including crop diversification and establishing a balance between food security and cash generation. The programme includes training on good agricultural practises and the establishment of nurseries for coffee as well as other trees. Significant investments are being made to increase the quantity and quality of fully washed Arabica. Washing station infrastructure is being upgraded,accompanied by rigorous training in coffee processing. In 2020, cupping labs were installed and cuppers trained. Internal control systems are being strengthened to ensure complete traceability and that the requirements for certifications are met.