Congo Coffee Growing Region News: Congo Volcanic Eruption Causes Evacuation of Coffee Growing Areas

You may not know the Democratic Republic of Congo as a coffee-producing country. Coffee from this region is characterized by a high body and dark berry notes, with hints of citrus and spice. Recently, though, the DRC has drawn attention for a very different reason.

On May 22, the Nyiragongo volcano, located near Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, erupted. Major coffee-growing areas in the country were evacuated, forcing thousands of people to flee the region.

As the risk of a second eruption grew, more affected residents were forced to evacuate to surrounding villages or to cross the eastern border into Rwanda seeking refuge.

Meanwhile, supporters of the DRC Coffee Revitalization Program are mobilizing every resource to help displaced residents and local coffee growers. The eruption has caused at least 31 deaths, left dozens missing and displaced more than 200,000 people.

What Happened

The Nyiragongo volcano is one of the world's most dangerous active volcanoes. It erupted suddenly and without warning on May 22. The lava flow advanced toward the city, triggering a mass evacuation across a city of about 2 million residents, with an official count of 670,000 displaced, and destroying at least 17 villages. The DRC faced compounding disasters: Reuters reported on May 26 that, on top of the eruption, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake also struck along the border with Rwanda.

The worst, however, was yet to come. Local officials ordered continued evacuations on May 27 to prevent another eruption of Nyiragongo. By any measure the event is catastrophic, since the methane gas produced by the eruption can cause suffocation.

Coffee Community Affected

This long-overlooked region now faces a greater humanitarian crisis. Although coffee has gradually become an important economic crop in the DRC, the region's coffee communities continue to face exactly this kind of challenge.

The country's senior technical advisor said Goma holds most of the eastern DRC's coffee processing capacity. Thousands of coffee producers there depend on the commercial center, with farms spread north and south of Kivu. The main transportation artery, however, has been cut off by lava flows, badly disrupting many traders. Multi-stakeholder groups are working to clear the blockages, in particular to repair the roads north of Goma that the lava has made impassable.

A coffee importer noted that while the company's staff in the DRC have been safely evacuated from the affected areas, the long-term damage to coffee dry-processing facilities and many staff residences is impossible to estimate.

Today, a non-profit organization focused on the DRC is doing everything it can to assist affected residents in the region.

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