Ethiopia Guji Shakiso

The Kayon Mountain Coffee Farm is 500 hectares with about 300 hectares planted in coffee and has been owned and operated by Ismael Hassen Aredo and his family since 2012. Ismael oversees a staff of 25 permanent full-time and 300 seasonal employees, and the farm management offers free transportation services as well as financial support for building schools and administration buildings for the community. The farm competes with a nearby mining village for seasonal workers, so Ismael and his family tend to pay higher wages to their pickers in order to incentivise them returning year after year. Kayon Mountain farm has a nursery on-site and utilises shade (acacia and other indigenous trees) to protect the coffee as well as for creating compost to fertilise naturally. Ismael is meticulous about not only the structure and The people of Guji grow coffee gardens at very high altitudes in the rich red soil of the highlands, setting this coffee's profile apart from neighbouring regions.