Visting Bukonzo Joint (a Fairtrade cooperative union) with Twin Trading

Hi there!

In this post we take you to visit Bukonzo Joint, a co-operative union owned by its members, who currently operate 5,500 small farms. They are located in Kasese in the Rwenzori Mountains region of Western Uganda, bordering Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The visit, organized by Twin Trading (described below), was a chance for the Marula team to understand and see first hand the impact that Fairtrade and specialty coffee markets can have on famers by keeping them out of the poverty cycle.

We hope you enjoy the pictures, our interview with Molly Moisan and Bas Alfaro, the Twin Trading Coffee Marketer of East-African coffee and a buyer from Fulkrum coffee respectively.

The Rwenzori mountains are located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The mountains are a world heritage sight and rightfully so!

         Featuring: Twin Trading, American & Canadian Buyers, Marula Team and Bukonzo Farmers

Twin Trading, is a non-profit organization that enables sustainable and vibrant farming communities to develop and prosper by linking them with a market, hence 'trade'. Twin wants to 'connect actors along the value chain and facilitate global and deep partnerships between buyers, donors and farmer cooperatives.'

Twin has been working with Bukonzo for quite a while, "one of our roles is providing the NGO side, such as development programs, climate change adaptation, gender skills etc... but we also have a trading arm, which is really really key." 

 On this trip, they brought specialty buyers from America and Canada, who buy quite a lot of coffee and have invested in the development of the cooperative. They also hosted their annual coffee competition, where they cup test all of the harvests to choose the best specialty coffee of the year. 

Most farmers in Uganda receive around 5-7000 shillings/kg (1.14-1.7 euro/kg) for their processed Arabica, but at Bukonzo joint farmers are able to get up to 10,000 shillings/kg (2.3 euro/kg) for their high quality specialty Arabica. This includes both the additional Fairtrade and Organic premiums and can represent a big difference to a farmer's life by helping them invest into their future. Moreover, once such a cooperative is set up and has paid the costs, the cooperative can take out loans through Fairtrade to invest into their co-operative and continue growing. With loans being so difficult to access for most farmers in Uganda, this is very helpful.

Fairtrade does sometimes have it setbacks, one of the main challenges for Fairtrade farmers is to independently obtain market access. To the East of Uganda, Kapchorwa neighbours the Kenyan border, there we visited another cooperative that had similar high quality and used to be selling their coffee at 10,000 shillings using Fairtrade and Organic premiums. Sadly, their buyer from Denmark stopped buying (due to low demand) and they are now forced to sell their coffee at the usual market price of 6,000 and have made several investments that they are now no longer able to uphold.

Thus, a relationship with a marketer such as Twin Trading is truly helpful in order to maintain the success and market access that Bukonzo Joint has.  

Coffee that is graded 80% or above in terms of quality is considered specialty coffee, they have a full-bodied taste profile and are supposed to have little to no defects. A very interesting type of specialty coffee that is becoming more common is honey processed coffee. In the traditional washed processing of Arabica coffee, the skin and pulp are first removed using water. Then, the mucilage, the last sticky layer around coffee beans, is removed in fermentation tanks. In honey processing however, only the skin and pulp are removed and it is then dried with the mucilage still remaining giving the coffee a natural sweet taste - which consumers love!

As mentioned above, the relationship that the co-operative has built with its buyers, has allowed for many projects to be developed. For example, this traditional roasting hut. Most coffee farmers in Uganda have never tasted their own coffee, and might not even know that coffee is actually meant to be consumed. With the help of their supporters, Bukonzo joint has built this roasting hut to change just that.

This picture showcases how they grind their coffee in the hut. By showing farmers that coffee is actually a delicious drink, farmers put more detailed care into their coffee. Whilst most farmers have been told many times that they shouldn't dry coffee on the floor with no protection, now they can actually understand why it shouldn't be dried on a dirty road and implement it.

"What makes Bukonzo so special, is that they have a really good integration of cooperative values from the individual farmer up to the top level, they use the GALS methodology (designed by OXFAM) to help communicate ideas. They don't limit it to their top organization - they help everyone get the education." - Mollie Moisan

A surprising fact about Bukonzo Joint is that it was originally formed as a Microfinance society to provide loans and fight rural poverty. Moreover, 98% of the cooperative is made up of women!

"All around the world it's something that we all know, the men traditionally have managed the money, In Uganda we are seeing that slowly they are giving more opportunities for women to be empowered, they are forming organizations like Bukonzo Joint. There is a real positive trend in these communities, they don't want anything else. They want tools, trainings, and a better price for what they do. We don't have to do their job for them." - Bas Alfaro

Whilst the roasting hut was already so surprising and impressive to us, one investment from the buyers that blew us away was the Cupping Lab! A few farmers were selected and got the necessary training to become cuppers in their very own lab. This way, they are able to test the coffee before sending it off to global buyers, which is necessary as quality is so important in the specialty market. If there is any type of odd taste, cuppers are able to tell the farmer which type of disease or poor harvesting method caused it, so they can improve it for the next harvest.

"The most important thing is that farmers get to understand the quality of the coffee themselves. They understand the scores of the coffee and celebrate it wildly." - Mollie Moisan

Congratulations to these two ladies that won this year's annual cupping competition!

If you want to know more about the Bukonzo Joint or Twin Trading, you can check their websites at:

http://www.twin.org.uk/

https://bukonzojointcoffee.com