Nkonge Hill, Natural

Sadly, life hasn’t always been peaceful on Nkonge Hill. The most recent civil war in Burundi brought great losses. Many farming families that fled returned to the hill only to find that their land had been divided or taken over by someone else. Nkonge Hill is led by a woman chief named Pia. Pia’s hopes are for more development and improved food security on her hill. 

“It’s hard to hope, “says Pia, ”when so much has been lost.” The war brought great losses to Nkonge, but Pia believes it is now time for peace and time to grow more coffee.

With the help of Long Miles’ coffee scouts, like Venerande, farmers are slowly rejuvenating their farms. Venerande is one of the founding coffee scouts working alongside the coffee farming families on Nkonge Hill, teaching them how to take care of their plantations and produce quality coffee. She has been empowering farmers with sustainable farming practices, helping them to understand the importance of planting shade trees and green manures to seasonally mulch their land and prune the coffee trees.

During coffee harvest, she stands side by side with farmers, guiding them through the cherry-picking process. Venerande has also taught farmers how to spot and catch antestia bugs (the colourful critters thought to be linked to the potato taste defect) that hide in the coffee trees. 

Nkonge Hill’s farmers have been receiving support from Long Miles Coffee to improve productivity and quality for increased income. Two of Long Miles’ farms can be found on Nkonge’s slopes, directly across from Heza Washing Station. In the future, the people of Nkonge Hill dream of having electricity. With it, they could mill cassava, wheat and maize grown on the hill into flour to make the food they love to eat most, bread.