Mensur Abahikam Jemal from Tokuma Group in Limu

During the visit to the warehouse in Agaro, our group grew with two travel companions from the Kata Maduga Cooperative Union, a large player in that area. Cooperative Unions are basically umbrella organisations for primary Coops that function as organisers and exporters for the individual Coops. Kata Maduga also added a car to our little caravan and we were welcomed in the car of Mr Mustafa, one of the cooperative unions leader, local businessman, and farmer. You might know Kata Maduga by one of their more famous primary cooperatives, Nano Chala. 

All farmers of the Tokuma Group, used to (or still) deliver cherry to primary cooperatives under Kata Maduga. The cooperative union helps the farmers develop and become morein dependent. There is not direct financial benefit to their members becoming more independent as producers, processors and exporters, Mr Mustafa explains that they still like to help their members or former members, because it is a good development for the coffee industry in Limu. We definitely share this thought.

Mensur is a very warm and welcoming person, with an eye for organizing business and producing quality specialty coffee. This is the one of the first single Ethiopian farmer lots we trade as The Coffee Quest, we aim to persist and grow! We love the opportunity as we believe that such direct connections can benefit farmers in more rural areas. The aim is to connect Ethiopian producers from the Tokuma group, directly to roasters!

Later during the trip, we passed by Mensur’s farm in the fields around Agaro and immediatly we realized the potential of single farmer lots in Ethiopia, both for producing quality coffee and for generating local economic impact. Mansur has a large farm of multiple hectares, 15 kilometres from Agaro, at around 2000 meters above sea level. A small warehouse for storing his tools and a large flat field which functions as his drying station during the season. His farm is planted with locally selected varieties 74210 and 74212, which are durable, resistant and have good cup characteristics.

The warehouse, run by Mr Amar, is what you call a primary Dry Mill. Washed coffee is processed to dry parchment and then shipped to Addis for dry milling. Natural coffee however, is kept in cherry in warehouses Amar’s, until the owner of the coffee decides he wants it milled and shipped to Addis. If there is a final buyer for the coffee, Mr Amar would hull the coffee into unsorted green and prepare it for transport to a dry mill in Addis. In our case this is our partner Addis Exporter. Mr Mensur’s coffee was also stored in Amar’s warehouse, and in the spirit of quality control, we drew several kg’s of samples from his various lots, to compare to samples we received of the same lot’s through Addis Exporter.

Mike Mamo the Ethiopian American chief of Addis Exporter is a dry miller, exporter and service provider. He took over the company from his father who founded Addis Exporter 65 years ago. I met Mike in the beginning of 2020, and visited him twice that year. Next to operating his own ‘Talisa’ Washing station in Agaro – Limu, Mike works with 50+ single farms from the Tokuma group in Agaro too. Since the liberalization of 2018, these 4 to 40Ha farms can export directly, with the help of Addis Exporter’s service.