Chancho is one of the latest washing station to be opened by DWD. It is spread over 3 hectares and started operating in 2021. The station is located in the Sidama region, Bensa Woreda, and near the kebele (village) Gemecho, 12 km from the main road. With an altitude of 2300-2400 meters, this climate offers ideal growing conditions for coffee. The harvest season lasts from November to February.
Highly skilled teams sort the cherries on the drying beds as soon as they arrive. The coffee is harvested from 500 to 700 farmers. DWD helps them to add value to this production by providing them with seeds, offering them advance payments and training to encourage them to be hyper-selective in their harvesting.
The Chancho washing station has the advantage of being located in the centre of a coffee growing area, which allows them to easily deliver their cherries. They transport the coffee by donkey or horse so that the quality of the cherries is not affected by the smoke from the engines.
The second advantage is that the coffee collected has exact traceability to the Sidama appellation.
A wide variety of trees overhang the plantations such as Grawa, Bisana, Wanza, Koso, Dokma, Kerkaha, Kerero, Birbirsa, Popocarpus falcatus, Tsid, Zembaba...
