| | | “Community members were afraid of me. They did not see me like a contributing citizen,” said Koko Bikuba Clement, a former combatant of the war in Congo. Clement is one of the SCPNCK coffee cooperative’s nearly 2,400 members, 295 of whom were previously soldiers, rebels or members of armed militia groups. SCPNCK, a French acronym for Société Coopérative des Producteurs Novateurs du Café au Kivu, was founded in 2012 by Gilbert Makelele, a community leader and coffee enthusiast on Idjwi Island in Congo's South Kivu province. Thanks to the efforts of its thousands of members, SCPNCK exports 100 tons of specialty Arabica coffee annually. | | Will this industry be enough to convince ever more combatants to lay down their arms? | | SCPNCK is just one of a dozen coffee cooperatives located in the North and South Kivu provinces of eastern Congo, which together are spearheading the revival of the country’s coffee industry. These cooperatives produce certified organic beans, hand-picked from hectares of land owned by small-scale farmers. Such productive farming is an extraordinary feat in a region that has been embroiled in war since 1996, with an estimated 6 million lives lost in the ongoing conflict. Makelele believes the region will have to choose between productive enterprise and war because, he says, socioeconomic initiatives cannot thrive where war and instability prevail. “It is imperative that there is peace and stability for economic recovery to take root. This is why we intentionally pursue the integration of ex-combatants and armed group members to be part of our vision for peace, stability and economic development and prosperity in Kivu through the re-emergence of the coffee industry,” he said. SCPNCK employs 47 full-time staff members, and recruits over 800 seasonal workers each year during coffee harvest and processing. But will this industry be enough to convince ever more combatants to lay down their arms? It is a long bet in a dire landscape. |
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| | | | | | | | Congo’s Kivu region is home to Arabica coffees that are revered around the world. The high altitude, rich volcanic soils and tropical climate provide ideal growing conditions for these specialty coffees, which are highly valued for their heirloom characteristics, including flavorful undertones of blackberry or chocolate. Decades of war and political turmoil nearly decimated the industry, however. Between 1978 and 1986, coffee accounted for 12.8% of the country’s total exports. By 2016, exports had plummeted to less than a tenth of what they had been three decades prior, with ongoing wars concentrated in the Kivu region, which is home to more than 90% of the country’s coffee production. It is estimated that over 120 armed groups are currently active in North and South Kivu. “No one remembered that Congo, and particularly the Kivu region, is a coffee-producing hub,” said Joachim Munganga, founder of SOPACDI, the first and now longest-running organic and fair-trade-certified cooperative in the country. “Our coffee has been absent on the market because of years of a declining sector due to wars.” | | Now with multiple awards to its credit, SOPACDI’s relative success has inspired and served as a model for coffee cooperatives in the region. | | Munganga said that Congo’s coffee regained attention after becoming the 2014 Sustainability Award Winner at the Specialty Coffee Association expo, one of the world’s largest coffee trade shows. This sparked renewed interest in the country’s coffee production. The son of small-scale coffee farmers in the South Kivu village of Minova, Munganga envisioned an immense role for coffee farming in peace building and economic development in his village. In 2003, when his country had already been at war for seven long years, he launched the cooperative SOPACDI (a French acronym for La Solidarité pour la Promotion des Actions Café et le Développement Intégral), a coffee processing and exporting cooperative which has grown exponentially, from exporting 9,400 kilograms of coffee in 2009 to 5,000 tons per year. Now with multiple awards to its credit, SOPACDI’s relative success has inspired and served as a model for coffee cooperatives in the region. Nearly 12,000 members earn their livelihood through the cooperative, and more than 320 of them are ex-combatants. |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | There is relative peace in communities where cooperatives are effectively recruiting former combatants into farming, Munganga told OZY. “They are earning an honest income. And they can see there is a better future for them in being a coffee farmer and member of a cooperative,” he said. SOPACDI is now growing its international business thanks to funding and technical support from local and international philanthropy and development agencies. Yet, even with such assistance, SOPACDI and other regional coffee growers must confront significant challenges. | | It can take as long as 50 days for a container of Kivu coffee to travel by land and boat to Mombasa, Kenya, or Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where they are then shipped on to destinations worldwide. | | Munganga pointed out that Congolese cooperatives compete in global markets against enterprises operating under conditions that are “far better and supportive than ours.” He ran down a list of logistical challenges and discouraging tax and regulatory conditions that cooperatives like his currently face. SOPACDI and other Kivu growers are located in a remote area, in a country where roads are often in deplorable condition, sometimes entirely inaccessible during rainy seasons. Major ports, meanwhile, are far away. It can take as long as 50 days for a container of Kivu coffee to travel by land and boat to Mombasa, Kenya, or Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where they are then shipped on to destinations worldwide. Adding to this list of challenges is the ongoing problem of coffee smuggling, in which local farmers use illegal channels to take their coffee to neighboring countries in hopes of selling it at a better price while avoiding taxes. Some farmers have drowned trying to cross the treacherous waters of Lake Kivu, and others have been robbed or otherwise fallen victim to criminals. It is estimated that as much as half of the coffee produced in Kivu finds its way to neighboring countries as a result of smuggling — a staggering loss for a fragile industry. Economist Celestin Bucekuderhwa, who has been a consultant to entities working on what he calls Congo’s coffee “value chain,” is doubtful of the capacity of cooperatives to return Congolese coffee to its former glory. He said the logistical barriers are simply too great, and that the country will need to make substantial investments to assist the cooperatives. “The country should invest in good road and logistic infrastructure, quality seedlings, increase the number of washing stations throughout the region and invest in quality coffee roasters to propel the true re-emergence of the industry,” he told OZY. “Coffee farmers themselves cannot succeed in effectively rebuilding the industry.” Yet leaders of the cooperatives continue to hold lofty goals, aspiring not only to grow premium beans but to improve the lives of their members and surrounding communities — in part by giving ex-combatants a role in producing the best cup of specialty coffee Congo can produce. |
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| | | | | How can coffee drinkers around the world support Congolese cooperatives’ peace-building efforts? | | SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS |
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