120. Catching Up with Dehab Mesfin Bitewlign

This year on Dehab Mesfin Bitewlign's farm in Ethiopia's Keffa zone of the South West People's

Dehab with the mother-tree of Arabica

Region, there's a new project underway to increate productivity with regenerative agriculture. Preserving the rainforest that surrounds her farm was one of the key factors that attracted Bitewlign away from the "safe" world of business accounting, and into the risky world of coffee farming. In 2014-2015 she began 100% management of the 330 hectare farm, of which she owns 27% of the land, her husband owning the rest.

In April 2025 Ruth Ann had a long call with Dehab. Initially the topic of the call was about Dehab's banks because we had issues with banks in 2024. But as the call went on, I learned more about why Dehab is using the bank she's using. It's a story that could be the story of many coffee farmers. I'll recount the key points as well as I can.

Productivity is the Key: When Dehab has hired advisors to evaluate her farm, they say farm management could be improved, but first she must increase productivity. They say her productivity of 750 kg cherry / ha is very low, (the equivalent of ~ 120 kg green /ha.) Productivity levels of 500 - 1000 kg cherry / ha are common for traditional, low input methods, but Dehab isn't thinking about average statistics. She says, "I can sell 1 - 2 containers per year. This is not enough to cover costs. Remember I told you how the workers come to my office and say I must increase salaries 25% or they'll go elsewhere?" That's the direct pressure Dehab feels to increase productivity.

But how? The experts who give her advice usually recommend buying artificial fertilizers. But this isn't the way Dehab wants to go. She would like to continue farming without adding chemicals to the soil. She's hired an agronomy expert who is going to help her develop a natural composting program. (I love this, as it sounds a lot like the Soil Food Web program we facilitated in Rwanda back in 2018 with huge support from Blueprint Coffee Roasters.) Dehab's expert has experience with worms (vermiculture) and bio-char. These two practices are well-proven to improve soil health for coffee when managed well. The expert seems eager to work with Dehab and show how these techniques will boost tree productivity, but he warns that it will take time. Probably 2 - 3 years are needed for the soils to improve and significant increases in kilograms per hectare to appear.

Dehab (in white cap) at her farm's drying tables.

Dehab's Dedication: Dehab definitely has the passion for sustaining a long-term effort like this. When Ruth Ann visited her farm in 2023, Dehab seemed to glow with excitement as she toured our group to see the forest and her farm. She is a genuine fan and protector of the UNESCO Biosphere (protected forest) that surrounds her land. She took us to an area of the farm that she intentionally leaves alone for the birds and trees to grow "wild". She's preserving habitat for plants and animals.

The Bank's Role in the Equation: Dehab was sold-out of her coffee in 2024 and again in 2025. Finding buyers doesn't seem to be the problem, although she says in today's high-priced market, it can be a challenge. She must continue to show strong sales to the bank she's worked with the longest, so that they will extend a loan that can finance her 2 - 3 year sustainability project on her farm. Dehab thanks each of the roasters who support her, and therefore the land and the rainforest in Kaffa, Ethiopia. 

33. Field Notes 10: Two organic washing stations

May 27 and 28, 2015
We visited two organic washing stations, Abakundekawa on May 27 and Kigufi on May 28. For both, I happened to have a personal connection to the consumer end of the supply chain -- Zingerman's Coffee Co. (in Ann Arbor, MI) is a customer of Abakundekawa and on May 29, in Kigali, we visited the restaurant and cafe run by Kigufi's owner, Jean Pierre Savageni. There I was able to taste freshly roasted Kigufi organic, single-estate coffee. Fantastic!

31. Field Notes 8: Five farmer interviews - similarities and differences

May 28, 2015 --
Learnings from five farmer interviews

My objective in interviews for this second week of our trip was to focus more on the choice between the ordinary (semi-washed) and the fully washed market. "What factors are driving farmers' decisions to choose one over the other?" This question is explored in my "income" module and the "market choices" module in my survey instrument.

                                          Kigufi Estate in Rubavu - an organic coffee washing station

These interviews took place in three districts - Huye in the South, Gakenke and Rubavu in the North.

Things we learned:

• Cherry prices in "South" this year tended to be 200 - 210 Rwf/kg cherry. In the north, the price was higher: 280 Rwf/kg cherry for direct delivery to the washing station. I was not able to get a definitive answer as to why the price was higher, but this kind of difference (70 - 90 Rwf) is a common range of variation in cherry prices throughout the country. The supply and demand situation is slightly different in each region. All must pay the "floor" price set by a committee on a weekly basis. At the time I was there, the floor price was 170 Rwf/kg cherry.

• Prices for parchment, or "ordinary coffee', was in the 700 - 750 Rwf/kg parchment range. This "ordinary" coffee is the traditional way coffee has always been processed in Rwanda up until about 2003 when the PEARL project first started building washing stations. The ordinary process is a crude "grindstone" effort done at home and results in very low grade parchment. Conversion factors are usually between 7:1 (poor) to 5:1 (good) in Rwanda. Using 6:1, a 750 Rwf/kg parchment price converts to 125 Rwf/kg cherry.  In other words, a farmer is probably much better off to sell their cherry to the WS (for 200 Rwf or more) and not even have the work of processing at home.

• Cherry vs. parchment differences: one of the interesting differences is that the farmer does not get any record, apparently, when they sell their parchment, whereas they all seem to have a "fiche", or document, on which each sale of cherry to a washing station gets recorded, along with the weight and the price paid.