O.C.F.C.U Ethiopia Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union

Compiled by John Private Coffee, please indicate the source when reproduced.

The Oromia region is one of the sources of coffee in the world. Oromo, the indigenous people here, was the first person in the world to use coffee as a food, dating back to the 5th century AD. Oromia is located at about 3-15 degrees north latitude and 33-40 degrees longitude. The region is famous for its primordial plant species and species diversity. This is where coffee was born. For the local Oromo people, coffee is their drink, their food, an important part of their trade, a "stimulant" for the local people, and an important tool for defending peace.

[Tadesa, founder of the alliance]

OCFCU is an alliance of small farmers' cooperatives, whose members include all small growers' cooperatives from the Oromia region. The alliance was established in 1999, through which small farmers' coffee products can be directly exported. Coffee cultivation in the Oromia region accounts for 65% of the total coffee planting area in Ethiopia.

OCFCU mainly exports Fairtrade coffee and organic certified coffee that can be traced back to its source. Through Fairtrade, coffee beans are sold directly to terminal roasters, and the profit-making cooperatives will be used for various local social projects, such as schools, public health, public infrastructure, etc. In the past few years, more than 200 projects have been completed with the support of Fairtrade, improving the lives of local farmers. You can see some of the projects in our photo album.

The alliance returns 70% of the profits from the coffee trade to cooperatives, which in turn return 70% of those profits to farmers at a lower level. In this way, the direct income of farmers is three times higher than that sold to coffee bean purchasers in the past, so the alliance has attracted more and more cooperatives, from the original 34 major cooperatives and 22691 farmers. Has grown to the current 217 cooperation, more than 200000 farmers. The lives of many farmers have been improved and local infrastructure has also been improved.

[areas within the alliance]

The Alliance now has its own cup testing laboratory for coffee quality testing and management, as well as more advanced large-scale coffee processing equipment capable of handling 5-7 tons of coffee per hour. These facilities themselves directly provide 600-900 local jobs.

[projects under the Alliance]

Recently, the alliance has also created bank institutions that provide services specifically for alliance members, which provides great convenience to farmers, especially financial assistance for farmers before the annual harvest season. at the same time, the agency also provides some insurance programs for farmers to ensure that farmers avoid large losses when they fail to harvest.

[certification]

OCFCU focuses on:

Increase the income of coffee farmers by directly exporting and reducing intermediate links.

Provide services and support to farmers in the alliance

Committed to improving the social status of farmers

Improve and improve the quality of Ethiopian coffee

The organizational structure of OCFCU:

217 members of the joint meeting

11 members of the board of directors

3 members of the management committee

9 standing staff

Hardware facilities owned by OCFCU

Warehouse

Coffee processing equipment

Office building

[private coffee this batch comes from OCFCU's Yega Xuefei G2]