Published at Monday, May 2, 2022 6:47 PM
History of our organization
At Dumerso coffee is more than just a crop. It’s a way of life. Being the most predominant resource in the region, it accounts for more than 90% of the livelihood of the local population. Smallholder farmers, producers, suppliers, traders, and laborers contribute to a majority of the economic activities in the region.
In addition the altitude, geographic location and soil type of the area ensures enough care and consideration so that some of the most unique and exceptional varieties of coffee can be harvested.
Our washing station at Dumerso, is lead by Hirut Birhanu who is a long time veteran in the coffee industry incorporating twenty years of experience in coffee production, processing and trading. In 2010, Hirut was able to acquire a site at Dumerso that was established in 1998 however, it hasn’t been operational since, within a few years she transformed it into a functional washed coffee processing site which began operating in 2013.
Currently, two stations exist: one belonging to Hirut Berhanu and the other under cooperative ownership, employing more than 400 workers during the harvest season (95% of which are women ) and supplied by a community lot of more than 650 smallholder farmers. Both washed and natural coffee is provided by this site. On the year 2020/21, the site started implementing honey and other special processing methods with the main focus on specialty coffee.
