In 2020, we kicked off our Good Coffee Doing Good programme by partnering with Long Miles Coffee Project to support their Trees For Kibiria initiative. We’re incredibly excited to be revisiting this partnership in 2023, pledging $5000 to Trees for Kibira (TFK).
Our donation will help fund The Biogas Project, an extension of the Trees for Kibira initiative which uses cow waste to sequester CO2 and methane in the soil to be used as cooking gas.
You can support this project by shopping Burundi Kayanza Gishubi - $10 from each kilo of coffee sold will be donated to the project.
LONG MILES COFFEE PROJECT
Founded by American couple Ben and Kristy Carlson, Long Miles Coffee was born in the lush coffee producing country of Burundi, East Africa. All over Burundi, Ben and Kristy saw farmers being taken advantage of by a broken coffee system, with poor farming practices also keeping farmers in poverty. They saw an opportunity to improve people’s lives by improving the quality of the coffee they produced.
While dreaming of great coffee and a better future for farmers, they built their first washing station in 2013 and second station ‘Heza’ the following year in the small sub region of Nkonge Hill. They also planted their first coffee farm - an encouragement to the hundreds of small holding farmers in the surrounding area.
TREES FOR KIBIRA
Burundian farmers are constantly facing challenges in planting any additional fruit trees to increase their yield, due to limited land size and square meterage. To overcome this, Long Miles Coffee Project created Trees For Kibira, a tree-planting endeavour, with aims to plant green belts of trees around every hill in Burundi where coffee is grown. This will help sew nutrients back into the soil, resulting in healthier coffee trees, rejuvenated farms and more sustainable farming practices.
TFK also place a large emphasis on educating their coffee growing community through their Coffee Scouts program. Together with Epa Ndikumana, Social and Environmental Impact Leader at Long Miles, the Coffee Scouts have formed Farmer Field Schools (FFS) to equip any interested farmers with the resources, support, or encouragement that they need to continue growing coffee.
As a result, farmers experience a five-fold increase in coffee production and witness improvements in other crops such as corn, beans, and bananas. This increase in yield directly results in more income for the farmers.
Biodiversity plays a pivotal role in boosting the yield and health of each plant type, with the TFK project finding that it often leads to the production of high-quality coffee scoring between 88-89. This regenerative farming approach emphasises companion planting and recognizes the importance of investing in soil health, beyond just tree planting. Every tree that TFK plant contributes to the creation of a diverse and native ecosystem.
HEZA WASHING STATION AND THE BIOGAS PROJECT
Another transformative project being piloted by the Long Miles team is a biogas initiative, which utilises cow waste to sequester CO2 and methane back into the soil. The captured methane is used for cooking, reducing the need to cut down trees for fuel. The biogas project involves constructing pits with cement covers and waste channels. Methane that is produced in the pit gets directed to the cooking area via a tube, while the runoff is used as compost for fruit trees, including coffee trees.
Through this system, three cows can provide three kilograms of gas per day, benefiting three families that will be connected to the one biogas collector. This approach also eliminates the need for women to gather firewood, allowing them to stay at home with their children and foster a more sustainable lifestyle.
The approach of Trees for Kibira and their innovative biogas project continues to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of farmers and enhance overall environmental well-being. The synergistic relationship between these initiatives can be harnessed by utilising the principles of TFK to expand and propagate the biogas project.
The Heza washing station in Gishubi, where our coffee comes from, serves as a model for the Long Miles biogas project, employing basic installations made of bricks, cement, and tubes. However, funding is required to support farmers in building the necessary infrastructure.
HOW WE’RE CONTRIBUTING
Through the sales of our Burundi Kayaza Gishubi coffee, we’ve pledged $5000 towards TFK’s biogas project. $10 from the sale of every kilo of coffee will help fund the building of five biogas set ups with each set up being able to service the gas requirements for three families (fifteen families in total).
Our coffee, Burundi Kayanza Gishubi, offers a delightful, balanced, and velvety cup. With notes of apricot and peach nectar, candied lemon, red apple, and hints of honey and caramel, it presents a truly indulgent flavour profile.
Padre Coffee acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their continued connections to land, sea and community.
We pay our respect to Elders past, present and future, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
