WHAT’S UP IN YOUR FARM KHALID?

Subtitles are included in the video, you can choose them in French and English.

እራስዎን ያስተዋውቁ ስም፣ ትዉልድ እና እድገት፣ የእርሻ ስም፣ እንዴት ቡና ውስጥ እንደገባችሁ፣ የምትሸጡት የቡና ዓይነቶች ፣ መቼ ነው መጀመሪያ ወደ ውጭ መላክ የጀመርከው

Who are you?

My name is Khalid Shifa, and I was born in a place known as Echemo in Jimma Zone, Gomma Wereda (district), Beshasha Kebele (village). I began working in the coffee trade at an early age on the farm owned by my grandfather and father. My family's farm got expanded, and I took over coffee business by sourcing for the local market. Five years ago, I got my export license and made my first sale to BELCO. Currently I produce fully washed (Grade 1 & 2), Natural (Grade 1 & 3) and Honey (Grade 1) organic certified exclusively for BELCO and other qualities for local market. 

ከቤልኮ ጋር ስትሠራ ለምን ያህል ጊዜ ነው? ለቤልኮ የሸጥከው የቡና አይነት

How long have you been working with BELCO? 

I sold one container of Grade 3 Natural, 2010 EC. I have been working with BELCO for 5 years now. (FYI according to the Ethiopian calendar we are in 2015 this year, so 2010 = 2017 for us).

እስካሁንምን ዓይነት ኢንቨስትመንት አድርገሃል? መጀመሪያ ላይ የነበረህንና አሁን ያለህን ግለጽ፤ መጀመሪያ ላይ ስንት ኮንቴይነሮች ወይም ከረጢቶች ወደ ውጭ ላክ

What investments have you made so far? Explain what you had at the beginning and what you have now; how many containers or bags did you do at the beginning versus now?

Initially I started working on the family farm with a licence to sell on the local market. I started exporting 5 years ago and invested in three sites in the Jimma area:

GERA

• 2 washing stations with a total area of 1.8 hectares
  
• 120 drying beds and a production capacity of 15 trucks per year
• For the first three years I rented this site but recently I bought it with a bank loan of 30% of the purchase price

BEDEYI

• A third drying station of 3 hectares
• 200 drying beds
• Two years ago I was able to buy this site from the government and I took a bank loan for an AGARD pulper. This station delivers us enough processed coffee to fill 20-25 trucks

ECHEMO

• A dry mill and honey processing station on a 1.5 hectare section of the farm
• 110 drying beds
• A PENAGOS pulper
• I also built a large storage and dehulling area on a property I obtained from the government and paid for with a bank loan. This required a capital expenditure of about 14 million birr (about €260k)
  

እነዚህን ኢንቨስትመንቶች የመረጥከው ለምንድን ነው

Why those investments? 

I made the decision to invest in the washing and drying station so that I could supply more coffee to the local and international markets. One of my challenges was the lack of an organic certified hulling station within a reasonable distance of the station, so I made the investment in one and a warehouse to hold the coffee until it is ready for export. 

ኤክስፖርተር መሆን በንግድ ስራህ ላይ የሚያሳድረውን ተፅዕኖ እንዴት ነው የምትመለከቱት

How do you see the impact of being an exporter on your business? 

Coffee exporting is a lucrative business mainly for speciality grade coffees, but for commercial quality coffees, the local market price is frequently greater than the international price, so we lose money. Additionally, because we are bringing in foreign currency, exporters are provided bank loans with lower interest rates. 

ቀጥሎ ምን ዓይነት ኢንቨስትመንት ለማድረግ አስበሃል

What investment do you plan to undertake next? 

In the future, I intend to make investments in a larger coffee farm and other projects that will enable me to maintain a sustainable and high-quality coffee source while producing more coffee. I'm currently in the process of buying another coffee farm.