Building a Better Supply Chain

An Inspiring Structure

Producers grouped by location choose an exporter and a miller as service providers to deal with logistics, coffee milling and exportation. All the while, traceability for each producers’ lots is maintained throughout the supply chain. What this means is that the FOB price paid by the importer goes directly to the farmer. Farmers are receiving in their hands—or bank accounts—the full amount that importers are paying for their coffee. 

The Bashasha project has also incentivized smallholder farmers to improve their coffee quality. The biggest motivator, as most would guess, is financial. Especially with new opportunities to sell directly to international buyers, farmers have a lot more to gain from investing in quality on their farms.  

Improving coffee quality is not just a matter of monetary gain. Quality improvement is also tied to pride in one’s own production and in Ethiopia’s role as producers (and consumers) of high–quality coffees.  

Previously, exported coffees were usually an amalgam of many producers’ cherry. This obscured each producer’s individual cherry quality and lowered the incentive to produce the highest quality possible. The Bashasha project brings the focus back to individual producers’ potential by marketing coffees from single farms. 

When their coffee is sold to international buyers and marketed with their names, coffee farmers take increased pride in producing good quality coffee. Additionally, when their coffees are representing their country on coffee shop shelves, farmers feel pride that their high-quality coffee is conveying the value of Ethiopian coffee to customers in other countries.   

An Opportunity to Support Bashasha

“This is an opportunity for roasters to get in from the very first season,” Sofie says. “I think it’s important that people see why these producer projects are important. It’s people behind these coffees. It’s not big organizations where the profits get diluted. It‘s small. It’s a family unit that has a farm and that can employ people locally.”  

When you purchase a coffee in the Bashasha Smallholder Selection, a significant portion of the profits go directly into the hands of the producers. Based on our calculations and local market conditions last season, the farmers who participated in this supply chain model gained up to 25% more than others in the Jimma area. 

But it doesn’t stop there. Much of that money goes back into the local community. With more money, family farms can afford to hire better trained seasonal staff, especially those they’ve hired in the past and know they can depend upon. This puts more money in the pockets of other community members and increases overall cherry quality.   

Get Coffee; Give Opportunities

Not only are we excited to be offering Biya Faris and Musasa Abu Lulesa’s fantastic coffees, but we’re also thrilled to announce that a portion of each sale of Bashasha Smallholder Selection coffees will go to the Girls Gotta Run Foundation. 

In addition to donating 5 euro cents per kilogram for all Bashasha Selection coffees purchased, 32cup will also provide a 1:1 match on any customer donations, up to an additional 5 cents per kg. Donations will go to help increase education and lifelong health for girls in Ethiopia through our partnership with the Girls Gotta Run Foundation. GGRF offers girls and their families an alternative to early marriage by providing athletic scholarships paired with a holistic, life-scale approach for vulnerable girls ages 11 to 18.  

Each scholarship helps a girl attend secondary school for a year. It also provides healthcare for her and her mother as well as meals, schoolbooks, tutoring and access to sanitary facilities. The program helps girls acquire important life skills such as family planning, financial literacy, nutrition, healthy relationships and more.