02/05/2022
In honor of Black History Month, ipsento is highlighting, Asnekech Thomas, for her work in farming, community, and coffee.
Ethiopia’s only female coffee farmer, miller and exporter, Asnakech Thomas, has made her dream come true. Her passion for great quality and responsibly produced coffee shows on her Amaro Gayo farm and she is able to contribute to the sustainable development of her home region.
Asnakech has grown coffee on her farm for about a decade. She says she’s proud of being able to live in the area where she grew up and use her land for coffee production. Asnakech lived several years in the UK where she also studied agriculture before returning to her homeland of Ethiopia.
She works with a group of around 4,000 co-operating coffee farmers from the local area whose livelihood is a matter of honour for her. She’s developed her own pricing system thanks to which farming is more profitable for the participating farmers and they are able to save some of their income in the bank accounts each of them has after Asnakech persuaded the bank to open a branch in the region.
Good quality coffee also contributes to better incomes. This means the farmers can afford to invest in their farms and develop their community.
