Conflict In Eastern Democratic Republic Of Congo Threatens Recent Coffee Industry Recovery – CoffeeTalk

The conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has led to a decline in coffee production, with thousands of farmers being killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. The rebels have also blocked export routes, threatening to curtail the country’s remarkable recovery for the coffee industry. Coffee bean production in Congo topped 100,000 metric tons a year in the late 1980s, but fell sharply in the 1990s due to DRC forces and other armed groups fighting in devastating wars rooted in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

Output climbed again in the past decade, reaching just over 62,000 tons in 2023, according to U.N. data. Cooperatives like SOPACDI in South Kivu province were getting international recognition for their quality beans, and improvements had been made in production methods and in deepening global market connections. However, these gains are under threat as the resurgence of the M23 rebel group forced many farmers to flee their land, leaving crops unharvested and livelihoods in tatters.

At the state-run coffee factory in Bukavu, the South Kivu capital, rows of drying beds lay empty during a Reuters visit earlier this month. François Kambale Nzanzu, the director of the state agriculture office that oversees exports, said that while coffee trees flowered abundantly this year, fighting and banking disruptions have hit exports.

In Muganzo, also in South Kivu, farmer Mudekereza Kashugushu Celestin surveyed the sorry state of his plantation, where fallen trees and shrivelled beans littered the ground. The damage has left him struggling to support his family and pay his children’s school fees.

In conclusion, the ongoing conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has led to a decline in coffee production, with farmers fearing that war will undo recent gains.

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