Coffee Farming by Smallholder Farmers
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Coffee cultivation starts with small seedlings: depending on their needs, an Ethiopian farming family receives five to ten coffee seedlings and natural fertilizer at low cost so they can continuously grow new plants. Only after three to five years can the first coffee cherries be harvested from these young trees. The small farms in Ethiopia operate independently of one another, but working together in cooperatives makes their everyday lives significantly easier.
COFFEE CULTIVATION IS A YEAR-ROUND JOB
The coffee blossom in Ethiopia begins at the end of February, and ongoing care of the trees yields the first fruits no earlier than June. The red coffee cherry ripens roughly from October through December. Only fully ripe cherries are picked by hand, weighed, and taken to the cooperatives on the very same day – on foot, by donkey, or using any other available means of transport. Each farmer is paid directly on site.QUALITY CONTROL: MULTI-STAGE AND INDEPENDENT
The independent evaluation of coffee quality is carried out by the ECX, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange. It awards certificates on a scale from the top grade 1 down to grade 9. The Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union works together with the farming families on quality assurance. The goal is to consistently achieve grades from 1 to 4 – and thus secure the best possible price. If you’d like to learn more about the role Ethiopia plays within the broader context of African coffee production, take a look at our article “Coffee from Africa – Origin, Diversity and Flavor.”PACKAGING, TRANSPORT, EXPORT
After the coffee has been sold, the beans are transported from local warehouses in the interior of the country to central warehouses and finally to the last processing facility. There, they are packed into 60 kg jute sacks suitable for global shipping. It is the responsibility of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union to ensure that the green coffee reaches the port of Djibouti and is handed over on time to the freight forwarder designated by the buyer. In most cases, the roasting takes place in the importing country.
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