Report Back from FERRO Cooperative in Sidama, Ethiopia
In November our friend and colleague Erin Schneider visited our partners in the FERRO Cooperative in Ethiopia’s Sidama Department. She was kind enough to document her experiences and insights for us. Below is a summary of her time at FERRO: The SNNPR (Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region) has fifty-two coffee cooperatives, that cover twelve district woredas (township-sized regions), representing 92,964 farmer members, of which 87,925 are male and 5,093 are female. These include both conventional and organic/fair trade certified coffee co-ops who sell to private market and for export. Among these is the larger SCFCU (Sidama Coffee Farmers Union) and within that the primary cooperative FERRO. SCFCU and FERRO have been partners with Just Coffee for five years now. Most farms are between 0.5 – 2 hectares (1 hectare is ~ 2 acres) with land that is co-owned by men and women, although the amount of land a farmer might own is allocated and regulated by the government.Ther