About Mount Sunzu
Mount Sunzu started on a 750 hectare plot of land that acted as a blank canvas for the founders, who were looking to create a high-impact, sustainable farming model that would improve local livelihoods.
After several years of planning, fundraising, and labour, Mount Sunzu now has 115 hectares of cultivated coffee trees, and 600 hectares of land that is being actively reforested with the native Miombo forest. The site has a fully equipped washing station and dry mill along with a solar-powered irrigation system.
Mount Sunzu facts and figures
Region
Mbala
Latitude
-9.051522000744031
Longitude
31.529733973547952
Farming Altitude
1600 m.a.s.l
Founders
Luca Costa, Fridolin Stocker, Yanik Costa
Employees
120 full time workers, 120 seasonal workers
Varietals
Starmaya, Marsellesa
Established
2018 (Zambian entity), 2021 (Swiss entity)
The future of coffee farming in Africa
There is an ageing farmer problem across Africa; many smallholder coffee farmers are growing old, and their children want to pursue jobs in the cities that will earn them more money.
​
Many producers (i.e. processing stations that buy cherries from hundreds of small farmers) are thinking about what the future of coffee production will look like, one prevalent idea being that of the estate model, which is already popular within other coffee producing countries like Brazil and Columbia.
​
​Mount Sunzu went into planning their site with this model in mind, wanting to create an operation that offers workers a fair living wage which may not be attainable through small-scale farming. Furthermore, they are eager to share the details of their work with others so as to become an example of efficient and sustainable coffee farming.
