| Sodeco | |
Native name | Societe de deparchage et de conditionnement |
| Industry | Mining |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Burundi |
  Bujumbura site Bujumbura site (Burundi) | |
The Husking and Packaging Company (French : Societe de deparchage et de conditionnement, SODECO) is a public-private coffee company in Burundi.
In 1990 the International Development Association provided US$28 million to reform the coffee industry in Burundi. The Office des cultures industrielles (OCIBU), which both regulated the industry and participated in production, would divest its production facilities and become the Office du Cafe [lower-alpha 1] , purely involved in regulation. Five autonomous companies open to private investors would take over the coffee washing stations from OCIBU and the Regional Development Company (RDC), and would manage about 100 new coffee washing stations. SODECO, a new autonomous company open to private investors would take over the two hulling factoris from OCIBU. [2]
SODECO was created in 1991 with 82% state ownership and 18% private sector ownership. [3] [lower-alpha 2] SODECO had a monopoly on curing [lower-alpha 3] until 1995. [4] As of 2010 SODECO had two curing factories, Songa in Gitega and Buterere in Bujumbura, with combined capacity of 60,000 tons per year. [5] [4] There were two private companies with curing factories, Sonicoff (Society of Nile Coffee) with a factory in Gitega, and Sivca (Société Industrielle de Valorisation du Café) with a factory in Ngozi. Sonicoff and Sivca had combined capacity of 10,000 tons per year. At this time, annual production was 20,000 to 30,000 tons per year. [4]
In June 2009 the state issued a call for tenders, and in 2012 the SODECO plant in Gitega was sold to the Ugandan company KYOOGA–COPRODIV for US$2.8 million. SODECO was to grant severance and notice pay to 50 employees, and 25 would remain with the new company. [6] By 2012 private mills had the capacity to process about half of the parchment coffee. [7]
Between 1991 and 2019 the price paid to producers for cherry coffee did not change when adjusted for inflation. In 2019 the state increased its involvement in the coffee sector, with the Office de Développement du Café (ODECA) now coordinating all links in the sector. Producer prices were increased, but green coffee production fell from a record 25,000 tonnes in 2018 to 15,054 tonnes in 2020. Déo Guide Rurema, Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, attributed the drop to climate change. [1]
As of 2021 private individuals and cooperatives ran 173 pulping/washing stations, and ODECA managed 107. About 600,000 families, or 40% of the population, are coffee growers. Coffee processing is the main industry, and coffee is the largest export. [1] Companies wholly or partially owned by the state that were reporting negative results in 2021 included Hôtel Source du Nil, Onatel, Cogerco, Tanganyika Mining Burundi, Regideso, Socabu and SODECO. [8]
The economy of Burundi is $3.436 billion by gross domestic product as of 2018, being heavily dependent on agriculture, which accounts for 32.9% of gross domestic product as of 2008. Burundi itself is a landlocked country lacking resources, and with almost nonexistent industrialization. Agriculture supports more than 70% of the labor force, the majority of whom are subsistence farmers.
Bujumbura, formerly Usumbura, is the economic capital, largest city and main port of Burundi. It ships most of the country's chief export, coffee, as well as cotton and tin ore. Bujumbura was formerly the country's political capital. In late December 2018, Burundian president Pierre Nkurunziza announced that he would follow through on a 2007 promise to return Gitega its former political capital status, with Bujumbura remaining as economical capital and center of commerce. A vote in the Parliament of Burundi made the change official on 16 January 2019, with all branches of government expected to move to Gitega within three years.
Burundi is a producer of columbium (niobium) and tantalum ore, tin ore, and tungsten ore, and some deposits of gold which are designated for export. Burundi has resources of copper, cobalt, nickel, feldspar, phosphate rock, quartzite, and rare reserves of uranium, and vanadium.
SOSUMO is a company that grows and refines sugar in Burundi.
The Insurance Company of Burundi is an insurance company in Burundi. It dominates the markets for life and non-life insurance.
The Burundi Coffee Board, or Office du Café de Burundi, was a coffee industry agency in Burundi, since replaced by ARFIC;.
The Burundi Institute of Agricultural Sciences is an agricultural research institute in Burundi..
The Markets in Bujumbura include the main public markets in the city of Bujumbura, Burundi, and various smaller public or private markets. Several thousand traders work in these markets, typically renting a very small stall and selling a limited range of goods. A well-meaning program to renovate seven of the markets, funded by the European Union, caused major costs and disruption to the traders in 2016–2018. Traders have also to deal with decisions by the city government to reallocate different types of business to different markets.
Afritextile is a privately owned textile company based in Bujumbura, Burundi.
Kaze Green Economy, or KAGE, is a social enterprise that manufactures wood and charcoal substitutes from biodegradable waste. It has facilities in Gitega and Bujumbura, Burundi.
Onatel Burundi, is a state-owned telecommunications provider in Burundi. It provides the full range of services including fixed and mobile voice, broadband and internet. The company has struggled to compete with private internet, broadband and mobile operators for many years.
The Hôtel Source du Nil is a state-owned hotel in Bujumbura, Burundi.
Tanganyika Mining Burundi, or TMB, is a public-private enterprise that mines gold in north-western Burundi.
Office National de la Tourbe, or ONATOUR is a publicly owned enterprise that mines peat in Burundi.
Twitezimbere ASBL is a non-profit association serving low income peasant farmers in Burundi. It assists them in adopting good farming and business practices, obtaining micro-credit, finding markets and so on. Challenges include illiteracy, traditional biases about women's roles, potential environmental damage from development projects and rapid population growth. Twitezimbere Microfinance, originating from and associated with Twitezimbere ASDL, is now a public limited microfinance company under the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock.
The Development Finance Company is a microcredit bank in Burundi.
The Women's Investment and Development Bank is a commercial bank in Burundi.
The Imbo Regional Development Company, or SRDI, is a public company that sponsors rural development in the Imbo natural region of northwest Burundi.
A Société de Gestion des Stations de Lavage, or SOGESTAL, was a public-private company that coordinated the activities of coffee washing stations in Burundi and arranged to sell the coffee. There were five of these companies, covedring different regions of the country. Theny struggled to survive as the industry was opened to competition.
The Burundi Coffee Regulatory Agency, or ARFIC, was a public entity that regulated the coffee industry in Burundi. It replaced the Burundi Coffee Board (OCIBU) in 2009 as part of a privatization program. It was in turn replaced by the Office for Coffee Development (ODECA) in 2020 when the state took back control.
 | This article needs additional or more specific categories .(September 2024) |