Ethiopia Shiferaw Dukale

Shiferaw Dukale was born in the highland coffee-growing village of Wegida, in Yirgacheffe.Growing up, Shiferaw spent countless hours helping his parents on their coffee farm. His parents taught him the importance of sustainable farming practices, ensuring that the coffee tree grows under shade, intercropped with other economically important plants and thereby coffee plants thrive year after year. He learned the intricacies of coffee cultivation and trade, from planting and nurturing young coffee plants to carefully picking ripe cherries at harvest time and participating in a sustainable coffee market network.

As Shiferaw grew older, his love for coffee and other crops farming deepened. Originally he inherited a small portion of the coffee (less than a hectare) farm from his parents. But, overtime he has expanded his farm to a total of 5.3 hectares covered with coffee trees and different varieties of false banana (Enset). Grown up in a famous area where intercropping and agroforestry practice is the dominant farming system in Yirgacheffe, he is good at characterizing the different morphological and nutritional qualities of Enset and associates those attributes with the characteristics of a dominant coffee variety called Kurume. Nifo and Astara varieties of false banana are growing along with the Kurume coffee variety in his farmd. According to Shiferaw, Nifo and Astara are known for their sweetness and rich in calcium respectively. In particular, food made from Nifo stem and coffee brewed from Kurume are served together on special occasions because both varieties are known for their sweetness in the area. Kurume coffee represents the largest proportion of his annual coffee production. He has been working through Jabanto and G Broad for export. Driven by a sense of purpose and determination, the majority of the income generated from coffee sales has been reinvested in expanding and improving the farms. Despite facing limited opportunities and support for his own education during his school years, he is resolute in compensating for the missed chances by investing in quality education for his children.