Burundi Hopes to Double Production by 2016

Government authorities in Burundi are organizing a campaign to keep coffee farmers from abandoning crops and to encourage long-term growth in the East African country’s coffee industry.

Pascal Girukwishaka, the technical director for Burundi’s regulating agency, Arfic, recently told Bloomberg Businessweek that export potential to the Asian market is driving the investmen. Arfic hopes to double the country’s coffee output to 30,000 metric tons by 2016.

“Before, our coffee was appreciated only in countries like the US, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the U.K.,” he told Bloomberg. “But today, Egypt, India, and recently Japan, Indochina, Singapore, China and other Asian countries are asking Burundi to deliver an important quantity of coffee.”

The full story: Bloomberg Businessweek