Ethiopia

Sidamo Oromia

This lot of Sidamo is produced by members of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, an umbrella organization established in 1999 by 34 individual cooperatives, now made up of more than 400 individual cooperatives - more than 400,000 households.  Most are small rural farmers who are able to benefit from this unionization.  Premiums from coffee exports are returned directly to farmers, and the union also funds organic farming programs, mill equipment purchase and food security programs.  OCFCU has established a central cupping lab to support quality control and is a founding shareholder in its members' bank, the Cooperative Bank of Oromia that provides pre-harvest financing and crop insurance, both resources historically unavailable to rural farmers in Ethiopia.  OCFCU has been Fairtrade and Organic certified since 2002 and ever since has been one of the world's largest suppliers of Fairtrade coffee.