THE PLAN

In 2019 our team in Addis Ababa begun a collaborative effort to conduct research into quality control services for our partners, Kata Maduga Union, who operate in some of Ethiopia’s western regions. Our team collected samples from every lot produced by the cooperative and cupped the parchment samples before they were transported to Falcon’s lab in Addis Ababa for analysis. The feedback we provided enabled the cooperative to better understand the correlation between their own quality and how their coffee is priced, ensuring they are maximising both. It also gave them insight into which lots they could select for higher quality microlots and increase total income across their multiple primary cooperatives.

THE RESULTS

In 2020 we hired an agronomist to work closely with KMU, and other suppliers based in the west, to ensure good agronomic practice and post-harvest processing is operating to a consistently high standard across the board. Our agronomist, Harun, also assists our producing partners in compliance with various certification requirements and audits.