This single producer lot comes from Mr. Tadese Teko in the Shale village near Worka town in Yirgacheffe.
Mr Tadese Teko is one of millions of farmers who live in the highlands of Ethiopia and relied on coffee to support their livelihoods. He lived in Southern Ethiopia, Gedeo Zone, Gedeb district which is known for its high quality coffee production. He owns 8 hectares of land which is large by the standards of the area where average land size is 4 hectares. Mr Tadese has 9 children and he manages to send his children to school thanks to the income he receives from coffee sales.
Farmers in the area usually create natural fertilizer utilizing waste and no chemical fertilizer is applied for coffee grown in such areas. Besides supplying their coffee most small-holder farmers in the area also work in the washing stations as laborers to get extra income during the picking season.
Mr Tadese usually produces washed coffees and usually supplied to to nearby washing stations. He is honored to have his coffee separated out for its exceptional quality.
Single Farmer Project
The Single Farmer Project is the result of an effort to support Ethiopian producers with a marketplace for farm-traceable coffees. Back in 2012, during a turbulent time in Ethiopia’s coffee exporting history, Partner and CEO Jason Long worked with an established cooperative to export some of the first ever truly “Farm Traceable” lots from Ethiopia. This was the first time a roaster could highlight the individual farmer for their Ethiopian Coffee. It was the start of an incredible project and truly began the movement for traceability in Ethiopia as we see more often today. This project also gave us some very fun stories like literally bringing a backpack full of Ethiopian Birr to Yirgacheffe with COO Noah Namowicz to pay the premiums directly to these farmers who participated.
This project is made possible in conjunction with important export partners supporting and bringing to market individual farmer lots. Samples are sent out to potential buyers, price is negotiated on the farmers’ behalf, and contracts are only accepted when the producer agrees on a sales price and their name is on the contract for each coffee they sell.
“Our goals with this project would be to help garner and develop long-term relationships between the producers we are already working with and coffee roasting companies that share in the values of transparency, traceability, and relationship that this program represents,“ says Claudia, green-coffee buyer for Cafe Imports.
