About Rugofarm
A Vision Rooted in Burundi
Rugofarm was born from an idea that began in the early 1990s, when a University of Burundi feasibility study first explored the potential of essential oil production from tropical plants. In 1991, a group of Burundian and German investors founded Rugofarm to turn that vision into reality.
The path wasn't linear. Early trials with eucalyptus, lemongrass, and vetiver were interrupted. It wasn't until 2001, with the import of patchouli cuttings from Indonesia and support from Astier Demarest and the International Trade Centre, that the project found its true direction. The first harvest came in 2004; the distillation unit was built in 2007–2008; and by 2010, Rugofarm shipped its first export of patchouli essential oil.
Today, Rugofarm leads a full essential oil value chain in Cibitoke province, in the northwest of Burundi — one built to diversify the country's exports, raise rural incomes, and protect the environment.
A value chain grown together
Rugofarm's agro-industrial complex in Rugombo sits at the center of the value chain. Rugofarm supplies patchouli plants to local producers and transfers the growing know-how for a crop that, until this project, was entirely new to Burundi.
In return, producers — organized into associations and cooperatives — sell their patchouli leaves to Rugofarm's distillation plant, where they're dried and distilled into essential oil. The oil is then exported, mainly to Europe.
The entire operation is certified against the Fair For Life standard, audited by Ecocert.
An origin shaped by bananas
Cibitoke sits between the plains of Lake Tanganyika and the Congo-Nile ridge. Warm air rises from the west, rain falls from the east, and the result is a humid hillside climate.
Here, banana is the default crop — grown on family plots for generations. Rugofarm's insight was to use the shade, humidity, and biomass of those existing plantations as a natural greenhouse for a plant that would otherwise struggle in Burundi's open fields.
“Every morning, I wake up with the conviction that I am contributing my part to the fight against poverty through responsible investment and local value creation.”