Story of change
Godiose's Story
- Burundi
- March 5, 2025
Godiose implemented insights from Kahawatu Foundation trainings on good agricultural practices and entrepreneurship to improve her coffee farm and her family’s livelihood.
Godiose, a member of the Mukenyezi Kerebuka Assocation in Burundi, and her husband own a coffee farm with 180 coffee trees. She started attending Kahawatu Foundation training sessions on good agricultural practices to help her manage the farm when her husband was unavailable. After putting what she had learned into practice, she observed significant improvements in their harvests.
Due to her outstanding performance as a coffee farmer in her community, Godiose was selected as a lead farmer, responsible for the coffee cherry collection center at Gitwenzi. In 2020, she and 27 other female coffee farmers decided to form an association.
“Kahawatu Foundation occasionally organizes exchange visits among beneficiaries to share experiences. During one such visit, I was deeply inspired by a widow who had started selling vegetables she had harvested as a small income-generating activity (IGA). Following this, and with the training we received on financial literacy and entrepreneurship, I learned that we don’t need significant capital to start an IGA. In September 2020, I began producing and selling banana wine with an initial capital of about US $6.75 (20,000 BIF), which I borrowed from my Village Savings & Loan Assocation (VSLA). By the end of the first month, I had made a profit of $4.40.”
Today, Godiose’s banana wine business generates a monthly profit. She used the proceeds to purchase 2 additional coffee plantations with a total of 451 coffee trees for $416, which she has since rejuvenated.
Since 2023, Godiose has also rented 2 plots for 3 years, where she grows maize and beans. In 2024, she harvested around 1,000 kg of maize and 930 kg of beans, selling the maize harvest for $575. She used this money to buy construction materials, including roofing sheets to renovate her house, and also purchased a cow for $324. Her goal is to produce 2 tons of maize in the next harvest.
Kahawatu Foundation provided pigs to members of Godiose’s association, giving them a source of organic manure for their farms. “Using the solidarity chain approach, each member who received a pig was required to give 4 piglets from the first litter to other members before they had full ownership of the pig,” Godiose explains. “After receiving a sow, I sold it along with 3 of the 4 piglets for 800,000 BIF. With this income, I purchased an eucalyptus plantation.”
“Thanks to the entrepreneurship training and the money I saved in my VSLA over the past 3 years, I acquired 2 plots, one for 500,000 BIF and another for 380,000 BIF, as well as a cow worth 800,000 BIF. I later sold the cow to start onion farming on one of my plots. In 2023, I planted 250 grams of onion seeds and harvested approximately 978 kg of onions, which I sold for 2,450,000 BIF. My goal is to purchase a 3,000,000 BIF plot at Gitwenzi center,” she says.
Today, I am proud to be a role model for many women in my community. I’ve trained 5 women, helping them start small income-generating activities and become self-employed
Stories of change
