What is the Production Volume of Sidamo Coffee? What Cooperatives Exist in the Sidamo Region?

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Introduction to Sidama Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee introduces Sidama as one of Ethiopia's most renowned coffee regions, located in the southern part of the country and equally famous as Yirgacheffe. In fact, Yirgacheffe town is located within the Sidama province. The quality of Sidama coffee is exceptional, especially the natural process beans. In recent years, natural process beans have regained their former glory, and the name "Sidama" has become almost synonymous with quality assurance.

Coffee Farming in Sidama

The Sidama region has over 100,000 coffee farmers, each cultivating very small plots of land, typically only 1/2 to 1 hectare. The coffee grown consists of traditional local varieties that are difficult to classify, so many people simply refer to them as Ethiopian heirloom varieties or even Sidama Heirloom. Since 2012, the Jimma Research Center has been promoting newly developed varieties 74 and 122 for small farmers to cultivate, which offer higher yields.

Farmers' Cooperative Structure

The vast majority of small farmers belong to farmers' cooperatives. Sidama has a total of 47 cooperatives, and in 2001, these cooperatives joined together to form the Pan-Sidama organization known as the Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (SCFCU).