"Women work the land, but when it comes to harvesting and marketing, they are pushed aside, it becomes a man's story, it revolted me!", Marcelline Budza, 33, told AFP.

Nine years ago, the young woman, entrepreneur and feminist, founded Rebuild Women's Hope (RWH), an NGO based in Bukavu (South Kivu) supporting the empowerment of women through the coffee culture of Idjwi, a island of some 300 km2 located in the middle of Lake Kivu, which produces a recognized arabica.

The president of RWH believes today that her "objectives are being achieved", because "now women can smile, be financially independent".

Rosette Nyakalala Bisengi, 24-year-old farmer and "coffee sorter", confirms.

She only earns 2,500 Congolese francs ($1.25) a day and would like to double that.

But with the money collected at the end of the month, she says, "I buy a goat, a hen... I send my children to school, I buy them clothes".

In the main street of Mugole, on the island of Idjwi, on March 23, 2022 Guerchom NDEBO AFP

"We employ at least 12,000 women per coffee season", explains Marcelline Budza.

There are also men - 857 - who deal in particular with the washing of the coffee.

"It's their job and after that, it's the women who sort the coffee. They come in large numbers for that every morning," she says.

"We plan to grow"

Marcelline explains the different stages of production.

First we "pulp" the cherries, then "we do the fermentation" and then the grains are placed on the "drying beds"...

After three to four weeks, they are shipped to Goma, the large city on the northern shore of the lake, where the rest of the process takes place: the "hulling" - which removes the last envelope surrounding the coffee beans - then export .

Men remain employed in the handling of coffee bags, at the Muungano cooperative in Goma, March 24, 2022 Guerchom NDEBO AFP

At the Muungano agricultural cooperative in Goma, the managing director, Daniel Abamungu Cinyabuguma, also explains that he employs men for "handling", because the bags of coffee weigh 100 kg.

But "we employ women" - 600 per year - he underlines, which allows them to "support themselves in their respective families".

Kivu coffee is "special", "it's a high altitude coffee" growing in volcanic soil, without chemical fertilizers.

Its flavor, according to the director, "is exceptional".

Women sort coffee beans at the Muungano cooperative, March 24, 2022 Guerchom NDEBO AFP

Marcelline Budza is also pleased to work on the production of a "specialty coffee", highly appreciated internationally.

“Our coffees are consumed in the United States, Europe and Asia. We have really favorable results,” she says.

“We produce six, eight, even ten containers of 19 tons each per season,” she says.

In the long term, "we plan to grow, to be able to produce twenty containers, exclusively with local labour".

© 2022 AFP