When Khalid tells his story, it's easy to understand his attachment to the farm and the coffee trees that saw him grow up. Khalid is a child of Gera. He inherited his plantations from his father, who inherited them from his father. Coffee here is an heirloom that we take good care of.
His grandfather collected wild coffee plants in the Choché forest, a few kilometres away, to develop his first plantations. Since then, the growing demand for Jimma coffee has helped to consolidate the family plantations, and Khalid is happy to continue these traditions.
Even as a child, he remembers meandering between the coffee trees and following his mother as she collected the cherries. He knows this land down to the smallest detail and, because of this legacy, he says he considers these coffee trees to be his "own children".
Given the attention he pays to his farm and the site's exceptional environment, and the efforts he makes to constantly improve the quality of his produce, it's easy to understand the deep connection he has with this area. He hopes that his 3 children, who currently live and go to school in the nearby town of Agaro, will also be able to enjoy coffee growing in the future.
