How Vital’s Farming Enables Other Passions

Vital Niyibaruta is a coffee farmer from a coffee farming community called Nkonge Hill in Burundi. He’s a 39 year-old father of four with an easy, confident smile. ⁠

Vital's journey into the world of coffee began in 2004, when his parents gave him a small plot of land. This humble patch of earth is where he grew his very first coffee plants.

Over time, driven by unwavering determination, he acquired more land, piece by piece, and expanded his coffee business. Today, he has over 190 coffee trees spread across four farms, each one bearing the fruits of his labor.⁠

Vital grows coffee, but his true passion lies elsewhere. In 2006, he made the choice to stop attending school and joined carpenters at Nyamiyogoro Hill (the neighboring hill to Nkonge Hill). He spent a full year as an apprentice, learning about this craft. His parents weren’t thrilled about him leaving school, but Vital always had a passion for woodworking.⁠

He used profits from his coffee farming to purchase the tools to begin his own carpentry business. Most of his clientele are young couples preparing their home for marriage, and his business has become quite successful, despite ongoing challenges.

One thing we love about Vital’s story is the way agriculture enabled him to pursue his passions. Farming coffee—a critical export of the landlocked nation of Burundi—offered a foundation on which this father and entrepreneur could build a carpentry business, and who knows what will be next!?

We’re asking you and this community to contribute some end of year giving to sponsoring farm supplies (inputs) for East African farmers like Vital—and $50 covers the cost for one farming family! That $50 provides things like fertilizer that will help Vital triple or even quadruple his harvest, providing his community with that much more stability to build other businesses just like Vital did.