Women Coffee Farmers in Sheda Kebele Advance Climate-Smart Future

BITA WOREDA, KAFFA ZONE — 17 June 2025
A packed community gathering in Sheda Kebele marked another milestone for a pioneering agro-forestry project that is putting 100 women coffee producers at the centre of Ethiopia’s fight against climate change.

Run by the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), the pilot is transforming smallholder plots into “climate-smart” mosaics of coffee, bananas, shade trees and companion crops. The dual aim: boost household food security today and generate tradable carbon credits tomorrow.

From Promise to Practice

More than 180 people—women farmers, their spouses, local officials and development agents—filled the meeting hall on 17 June to review field progress and plan the next planting phase.

“We have a rare opportunity here, and we must use it wisely,” urged Ato Atnafa Assefa, head of Bita Woreda Administration, in his opening remarks. He called on farmers to keep weeds, pests and diseases at bay and warned that anyone undermining collective efforts would face legal action.

Project focal person at Sheda Kebele, Ato Worku Alemu led a hands-on training, demonstrating the correct spacing and pit dimensions for the upcoming coffee and shade-tree seedlings. Woreda and kebele agriculture experts reinforced the guidance, ensuring that farmers left with clear, practical steps.

Early Wins and Honest Feedback

Participants praised OSSREA for delivering banana suckers ahead of schedule—no small feat in the rugged highlands where many projects falter on logistics. All households reported ploughing their plots at least twice, creating ideal seed-beds for the new intercrops.

Yet the meeting was far from a rubber-stamp exercise. Farmers flagged a handful of shallow banana pits that need re-digging. “These candid discussions are exactly what keeps the project transparent and accountable,” said Ato Atirse, the woreda agriculture expert supervising three on-the-ground development agents.

Why It Matters

Kaffa’s lush forests are famed as the birthplace of Arabica coffee, but they face mounting pressure from climate volatility and land degradation. By inter-planting nitrogen-fixing shade trees and food crops, the women-led plots are expected to:

• Sequester significant amounts of carbon, opening a pathway to Plan Vivo certification and future credit sales;
• Diversify household diets and incomes, cushioning families against volatile coffee prices; and
• Model a gender-responsive approach that gives women equal say in land-use decisions—still a rarity in many rural communities.

The effort aligns with Ethiopia’s Climate-Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy and provides a grassroots example of how carbon finance can dovetail with sustainable agriculture.

Next on the Calendar

With banana pits largely completed, attention now turns to digging 100 coffee and shade-tree holes per plot before the short rains arrive in August. OSSREA technicians will return later this month for a refresher course on seedling care and pest monitoring.

“If these women succeed—and all signs say they will—Sheda Kebele could become a blueprint for neighbouring communities,” Atnafa told the crowd as the meeting closed. “Let’s show the rest of Kaffa that climate action starts in our own fields.”