Gotiti Gedeb - Ethiopia

Producer

Various Regional Smallholder Farms

600 smallholder farmers handpick ripe cherries for the coffee from Gotiti. Harvesting coffee involves multiple pickings throughout the season as cherries don’t ripen simultaneously. Growers bring their yield to the washing station after each picking, highlighting the continuous nature of the task. As in many of the other coffee growing regions of Ethiopia, transporting coffee (and other goods) in the Gedeb area is a challenging endeavor. Growers often carry their daily harvest in bags on their shoulders or on donkeys. When the load is too heavy for one donkey, they may hire a donkey cart. Alternatively, they may opt for risky transportation methods such as hiring small three- wheeled taxis which navigate through congested traffic and large potholes and goat and cows wandering freely across the road along with dogs and kids and other vehicles transporting various goods from coffee to livestock to market finds. In the Gedeb area, coffee trees grow alongside local shade trees such as Cordia Africana and Acacia, along with the common Ensete ventricosum plant, whose root is a staple food. The plant’s bright green leaves, sometimes reaching heights of 15 to 20 feet, add a tropical ambiance to the landscape.