🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo
Page updated: @June 30, 2026
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Contents
Olame is a coffee cooperative located in Bugarula of Idjwi Island, DRC. Established in 2019, Olame was formed in order to access international markets and earn better wages for its members, while also improving coffee processing techniques and overall quality.
The cooperative’s motto is ‘Live for our coffee, and by our coffee’.
Location
History
The Olame Agricultural Cooperative was established in 2019 by its founding 16 members in response to the numerous cases of drowning on Lake Kivu as a result of illegal coffee trafficking to Rwanda, as well as to add value to our coffee through the production of high-quality coffee and the search for profitable markets.
To date, the cooperative now has 1245 members, including 405 women and 840 men. Olame has succeeded in creating jobs in the local community, organising seven village savings and credit associations, establishing a training centre for cutting and sowing to empower women and young people, and setting up a cassava, soybean, and coffee mill. The cooperative has already distributed more than 75,000 coffee seedlings, more than 1,250 banana suckers, and more than 25,000 agroforestry trees free of charge.
Facilities & Operations
Olame has two sites in Bukumbi and Kihumba, each with a wet mill and 40 drying beds. Employed at these washing stations is 9 permanent and 15 part time workers.
A fairly new cooperative, Olame has produced a total of 5 containers of green coffee over the last 5 years. 2 containers of this coffee were exported internationally, while the rest was sold within the DRC.
Goals & Community Impact
In the long term, the Olame Agricultural Cooperative plans to increase its production by 50%, a goal which is already in progress thanks to the coffee plants distributed to its members. The team are also keen to increase the capacity of their facilities as well as initiating a support program for women and younger farmers.
Olame provides members with high quality seedlings, training in good agricultural practices, and access to credit programs. They also monitor and maintain local water pipes and roads, a tasks which benefits not only the cooperative but the whole community.
Something Olame would like to offer its members in the future is new tools and shade tree seedlings. One day they would even like to set up a mutual health insurance scheme.