Burundi and Rwanda Harvest Update 2026 

This article at a glance: 

• Burundi's 2026 coffee harvest is expected to increase in excess of 60% compared to last year, reaching 24,000 MT.
• Rwanda’s 2026 harvest is expected to be around 16,000 MT, with anticipated quality remaining high. 
• Sucafina continues to invest in farmers and supply chains in both countries through IMPACT, our responsible sourcing program. Initiatives such as stumping, carbon assessment and the launch of new Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) are helping farmers to improve their income while enhancing coffee’s traceability and quality

Burundi 

In Burundi, we reached out to Simon Claeys, Managing Director; Nestor Mboninyibuka, Operations Manager; and Gloria Iduhangaze, Sustainability Manager. They shared their insights into this year's harvest, highlighting Burundi’s volume and quality along with sustainability projects Sucafina is supporting within the supply chain. 

Burundi Harvest Outlook: Volume and Quality 

Our forecast for Burundi’s 2026 harvest is promising, with volumes likely to increase in excess of 60% compared to last year. Favorable weather – with the right balance of rainfall and temperatures – has supported strong flowering since mid-August. The harvest is expected to start in full around March 10^th, which is one month earlier than the previous year. The next few weeks will be crucial in assessing the final outlook for the season. “On the quality side, the cherries look to be developing well, but it’s still too early to actually judge,” Simon says.  

Harvest season is expected to run until July, depending on rainfall. Thanks to our farmer outreach programs and a strong focus on pre-selection and quality at our washing stations, we are optimistic that this harvest will deliver a promising result.  

Our Sustainability Efforts in Burundi 

This season marks the launch of a major and highly strategic public-private initiative aimed at revitalizing coffee production in Burundi. Through our tree stumping program, we’re partnering with 14,000 coffee farming households to rejuvenate around 700,000 trees as part of a broader effort to increase farm productivity. By combining tree stumping with the planting of new seedlings, we expect to boost production within our farmer network by up to four times within the next three to five years.  

Alongside this productivity initiative, we are continuing our commitment to sustainability. Coffee from across Burundi is now offered as IMPACT-verified. Through data-driven insights and transformative projects, IMPACT, our responsible sourcing program, focuses on critical priorities such as promoting regenerative agriculture and reducing carbon emissions. For instance, farmers can access training through IMPACT, which helps them improve the environmental and social impacts of their farms. This harvest marks our third year offering IMPACT-verified volumes in Burundi. 

We are working with approximately 30,000 smallholder farmers in Burundi this year across all of our sustainability initiatives. These efforts continue to prioritize farmers’ livelihoods as the central focus of our sustainability work.  

Rwanda 

Rwanda’s 2026 harvest is projected to be significantly lower than last year’s in volume but with great quality. We reached out to Alain Fabrice Uwayo Baraka, Acting Commercial Manager; Celine Niwemugeni, Sustainability Manager; and Akiba Emmanuel, Chief Operations Officer for their insights into this year's harvest. Despite yield reductions, our team in Rwanda continues putting their focus on ensuring coffee quality while introducing a seasonal risks mitigation model to work with 3^rd party washing station partners. 

Rwanda Harvest Forecast: Volume and Quality 

Rwanda’s 2026 crop may be significantly lower than last year’s in volume, but we are expecting great quality. The harvest’s result depends on flowering cycles and rainfall levels. For this season, we have experienced less favorable flowering conditions, which suggests a 30% reduction in volume compared to last year. Volume is anticipated to be approximately 16,000 MT. The harvest has already begun, starting mid-February and will last until the end of June.  

Regulatory and Market Changes  

Due to reduced supply, the market will become much more competitive. Despite these circumstances, RWACOF (Sucafina in Rwanda) will continue to put strong emphasis on purchasing exceptional-quality cherry and giving close attention to processing to preserve coffee quality.  

Additionally, we are expanding the network with our partners by introducing a new scalable model that aims to further ensure quality. This model will support in procuring coffee from new areas and support the Rwanda coffee industry as a whole by reducing market risks for our partners. Quality at partnered stations is assured through the presence of our personnel to closely monitor cherry processing throughout the season. 

Sustainability Initiatives in Rwanda 

Sucafina’s sustainability work in Rwanda continues to advance across key focus areas, including coffee tree rejuvenation, carbon footprint mapping and environmental conservation on a broader scale (including farms, forests, rivers, wetlands, communities and infrastructure as an interconnected system). Since 2023, we have stumped 197,782 trees, with 155,931 completed in 2025 alone. Farmers have received substantial input assistance, including 198,328 kg of lime and 131,048 kg of organic fertilizer for 2024 stumped trees, alongside a structured monitoring plan to track “back-to-production” timelines (refers to the time between a rejuvenation intervention and the tree’s return to commercially viable production). High labor demands and short-term income loss can deter farmers, making labor incentives and input support critical to scaling rejuvenation efforts.  

Launched with the London School of Economics (LSE), our Farmer Development Program supports Rwandan farmers with training, loan access and tree rejuvenation incentives. Recently, LSE launched an agroforestry program to identify effective tree-planting incentives and integrate agroforestry into supply chains by linking incentives to Rwacof deliveries and improving verification efficiency. The program benefits 3,735 farmers across five Rwacof (Sucafina in Rwanda) service centers and has distributed 110,064 shade trees while strengthening agroforestry integration into supply chains. 

Our Rwanda team continues restoring soil health and promoting responsible land stewardship. To date, 4,915 farmers have been trained in regenerative practices such as erosion control, cover cropping, composting and organic fertilizer application. These trainings are supported by 10 demonstration plots established in late 2025. Farmers are increasingly employing soil management practices to boost productivity on existing land, reducing pressure to expand cultivation and strengthening long-term resilience. 

Rwanda is among the first origins in Sucafina’s network to implement full supply-chain carbon, living income and regenerative agriculture assessments. Strong baselines help identify emissions hotspots, improve household resilience, measure regenerative benefits and ensure transparent reporting. The continued rollout of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) strengthens farmer resilience, engaging 1,529 members (51% women) and mobilizing $30,884 in savings (67% of which has been loaned to 924 farmers), helping households reinforce financial stability. 

Over the next six months, we will establish a 145,000-seedling nursery in Rwanda, expand refresher trainings on stumped tree canopy management and strengthen carbon and soil monitoring. The program will also include the formation of 15 new VSLAs and scale up financial literacy training. We plan to conduct IMPACT verification this coming April and expect IMPACT-verified coffee to be available in June. These efforts support a more productive, climate-resilient and financially secure future for Rwanda’s coffee farmers. 

Interested in learning more about our Burundi or Rwanda supply chains or booking coffee from these origins? Get in touch with your trader to explore our offerings.