Duromina
ETHIOPIA
Introducing the 4th instalment of our Ethiopian series. Duromina is a small farmers’ cooperative located in the Jimma zone of southwestern Ethiopia, 25 kilometres from the town of Agaro. Our coffee consists of wet-processed varieties indigenous to that region.
Duromina is a true success story: The farmers’ cooperative, which consists of 329 workers, was established in 2010 and won the African Taste of Harvest award in 2012 with a batch of wet-processed coffee very similar to this one. Their new processing station was built with the aid of the non-profit organization TechnoServe on a 4-year loan. They managed to pay the loan back in full only a year after starting their operation, and their momentum has been unwavering ever since. The processing water, obtained from the nearby river, is cleaned and recycled after use. The pulp of the cherries is also recycled as organic fertilizer. The members of the cooperative are smallholders, farming on a land of 1800 acres (730 ha) without using any chemicals. It is not a coincidence that in the local Oromo language, the phrase Duromina refers to improved quality of life.