Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority and Ethiopian Women for Coffee and Climate Spanish Cooperation in EU-Desira project provided support of Coffee Hand Pulper Machines to the Targeted Districts
* The Coffee Hand Pulper Machines has Great Benefit to the women Farmers in the Districts.
(May 26/2016: ECTA):- The Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority has supported a coffee hand pulper machine for the districts covered by the EU-Desira Ethiopian Women for Coffee and Climate Spanish Cooperation Project. Ato Fitsum Mengesha, executive director of the authority's office of women and social affairs and Implementation, said, the support was mainly given to the women developers in districts covered by the project.
In his speech, Ato Fitsum explained that , this support will bring the women’s participation to a higher level and it is also very important in maintaining the quality of coffee production. The executive director added that women’s participation in coffee cultivation and marketing is increasing over time, and the role of women is particularly prominent in product quality control, too.
The executive director stated that starting from the implementation of the project, many works have been done, especially by supporting women and strengthening their participation, doing awareness creation activities, providing various trainings and conducting research, and based on the findings of the study, they have sent recommendations that will be useful to all stakeholders, and in fact, many additional works have been done, too. He also said that it requires the support of all parties to realize the benefits of women, since the end of the project is approaching, the efforts of representative experts and women farmers in the zones and districts should resume their job as usual & should continue all the efforts of women . Taking into consideration the convenience and economic importance of our country for coffee cultivation, this project has been providing great support in order to prevent deforestation related to forest coffee and to maintain a suitable climate by protecting the local ecosystem and improving food security. He said that this project has made it possible to do a lot of work by solving many challenges in the sector and ensuring the benefits that the country deserves, especially the participation of women and youth.
W/ro Tirunesh Fresa is a female farmer and a resident of Chora district of Buno Bedele zone, whom the project supported. W/ro Tirunesh expressed her sincere gratitude for the support given to her and expressed that it will motivate her to produce her coffee more diligently and responsibly in the future. Similarly, W/ro. Tilaye Alemayheu, a female coffee producer in Ilu Ababora Zone, Yayo District, said that the support given to us to strengthen the participation of women through the cooperation of the project and the authority office is high, which will enable us to improve our lives and change our lives. In the same zone, female coffee growers W/ro. Regatu Gutema, W/ro. Bishake Alemu, W/ro. Tiruwork Tena and W/ro. Baritu Desalen from Mogu Kebele- Algesecha District, Bocho Soyoma Kebele from Durani District, Agta Kebele from Bilonopa District and Hurmu District have continuously got the support. The selected women who met various criteria stated that the machine not only saves their time but also preserves the quality of their coffee and make a change in their income.
The machine is completely made of steel and is strong, and when estimated financially, it has been realized that a total of more than 516 thousand birr has been spent. After the support program, the team has made a supervision works regarding the implementation of the project and the participation of the community of each districts were done. The authority’s public relations and communication team have reported this in place.