BUKONZO DREAM - NATURAL - UGANDA

A TRIUMPHANT RETURN FOR ONE OF THE FIRST EVER COFFEES WE SORURCED

At least one of the first ones I think we got right but I'm almost certain that was the coffee doing all of the heavy lifting.

Now with 5 years roasting experience under our belt it has been a joy to return to!

Founded in 2016, Agri Evolve was the result of an observation of the local coffee market: farmers had the coffee, but lacked proper harvesting and processing facilities. On top of this, traders in the area only payed low, cash-in-hand prices, leaving producers unable to improve their own product.

Agri Evolve emerged as an alternative practise, initially buying home-processed naturals while working on developing a rapport with local farmers. This was important for when they began establishing themselves as a place to sell unprocessed cherries for a fair market price, and people now knew they could rely on Agri Evolve for payment. Not only that, but the funds made from exportation were funnelled back into programs focusing on training, education, facilities, and equipment all for the farmers to use to increase their yield and profits.

Trust was the biggest obstacle when Agri Evolve first started trying to buy cherries from farmers and cooperatives in the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda.

The typical approach to coffee in the region was always for farmers to process it themselves, then sell it on as DRUGAR (Dried Uganda Arabica), which Agri Evolve was already purchasing from them at their collection centres. But the team were looking to start buying coffee as freshly harvested cherries, then do the processing at their own facilities, ultimately allowing them more control over the final product.

To buy cherries however, Agri Evolve had to focus on building relationships with prominent members of local coffee-growing communities. These communities, the people that live on the slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains, are of the Bakonzo Tribe, and it is for them that Bukonzo Dream is named. Because without the Bakonzo people, there would be no Bukonzo Dream!