In Eastern DRC, Ex-Fighters Make a New Life With Coffee

November 05, 2012

Bichera Ntamwinsa,23, picks berries from her coffee plants in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Farmer field schools and agricultural cooperatives can help smallholder farmers gain skills while strengthening their common voice. (UNESCO/Tim Dirven)

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report in Special English.

A cooperative in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is giving Congolese coffee exports a fresh start. The co-op is trying to do the same for former rebels and soldiers. They are being encouraged to make a better and safer living from coffee.

The co-op is called Sopacdi. Its headquarters are in Minova, a fast-growing town along Lake Kivu. Many people trying to escape conflict have moved there.

The co-op began in two thousand three. Last year Sopacdi began selling coffee in British stores. It had help from a British nongovernmental organization called TWIN and the British development agency. TWIN helps producers in developing countries sell to supermarket operators in the West.

Joachim Munganga is the president of the co-op. He says getting a "fair trade" certificate for Congolese coffee took two years. The group had to meet requirements involving respect for the environment and workers’ contracts. This year the co-op won an organic certificate and it now has seven buyers in Europe, the United States and Japan.