CQI has been working with TechnoServe in Burundi since mid-2023 to provide coffee quality education as part of the USDA Food for Progress Burundi Better Coffee Initiative, or BBCI. In less than a year, we were celebrating a significant achievement together: a four-fold increase in the number of Burundians certified as Q Graders. (Read more about the project below.)
To date, most of our work on BBCI has focused on training in quality evaluation and cupping. In late 2023, 21 people completed CQI’s Introductory Cupping Series, a six-day training that combines three separate CQI classes and courses: Understanding Tastes and Flavors, Intro to CQI Cupping, and Q Cupping Essentials.
We then worked with TechnoServe to create a novel series of review sessions led by experienced CQI to help participants continue to build their skills and prepare for the Q Grader course, which was hosted by the Burundi Coffee Development Office, ODECA.
Eight people passed and earned Q Grader status, increasing the number of certified Q Graders in Burundi from two to ten. The expanded pool of certified Q Graders expands producers’ access to information about coffee quality, and helps advance the project’s objectives for increasing coffee quality in Burundi and supporting improved access to quality-focused segments of the market.
A second cohort of Burundian coffee professionals will begin CQI training later this year, and our expectation is that we will have more good news to celebrate soon.
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ABOUT BBCI
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food for Progress Burundi Better Coffee Initiative will assist 60,000 coffee farming households, including 30% women and 30% youth, to increase the productivity, quality, and value chain of the coffee sector, allowing to increase farm income by over 40%, bringing households on a trajectory towards living income levels.
