Kahondo Coffee Washing Station (CWS) is one of 9 washing stations belonging to Virunga Coffee Company, setup by Schluter (now Covoya) in 2012 to produce high quality coffees for the specialty market and increase premiums for the thousands of smallholder farmers in the region. The strategy for Virunga has been three-fold: 1) To increase production through good agronomic practice 2) to improve quality through education and strict guidelines for production and processing 3) to obtain internationally recognised certification in order to generate better revenue for farmers.
Virunga now have now trained over 11,000 famers in GAP (Good agricultural practices) and have partnered them in Organic and Rainforest Alliance certification. They have 40 field officers (trained agronomists) working in the region and distribute over 3 million seedlings a year to farmers in Eastern DRC.
The Region
Kahondo village is located in the Isale region of Nord-Kivu (North of Lake Kivu), on the edge of Virunga National Park, bordered by Uganda to the east. The region has excellent conditions for speciality arabica production with plentiful rainfall, high altitude and highly fertile volcanic soils. The region is also very pov- erty-stricken and has had a severe lack of infrastructure which has made high quality arabica both di - cult to produce and very challenging to export. Virunga Co ee Company has sought to overcome many of these problems through hands- on farmer education and investment in local infrastructure such as roads and bridges. This has allowed quality improvements every season and, in turn, higher premiums for farmers.
The Process
Ripe cherries are delivered to the wetmill for careful sorting and floatation in clean water tanks. The ripe cherries sink due to their high density and the floaters are removed and used for lower grade production. The ripe cherries are then dried in the sun on raised African beds for 12 - 15 days until the optimum moisture content has been reached. They must be turned consistently to ensure even drying and prevent mold or overfermentation. Once the coffee has dried it is transported to Butembo for dry-milling, grading, sorting and handpicking (triage), before being bagged in GrainPro for export.
