An initiative to support women coffee producers.

Women play a vital role, taking part in every stage of the supply chain but often handling the most time-consuming, most seasonal and lowest-paid tasks (like sowing, harvesting and sorting). Studies show that when women manage household income, there are many benefits: better child education, health, economic stability and overall family wellbeing.

This year, we are celebrating Christmas with Oscar Daza's coffees, our partner in Colombia since 2017. 

A few years ago, Belco and producer Oscar Daza (owner and manager of La Pradera) decided to invest in the purchase of a plot of land (under the project name “Pilos Del Café”) backing onto the local public school in Aratoca.

On this plot, the school's students learn about agronomy and agroecology and discover all the stages of coffee production, from planting to processing. The coffees produced on this plot enable the school to continue operating year after year.

This year, we want to treat the school children to a festive Christmas snack and finance the planting of young Laurina coffee trees, a rare variety, on their plot.

For every kilo of coffee you buy, €0.10 will be donated to the Christmas project for the children—and Belco will double the amount!

→ That's €0.20 raised for every kilo sold.

Together, let's make every cup a concrete gesture for the communities that grow your coffee.

For 10 years, we have been taking practical action to protect and develop forests through our Forest Coffees® brand

Forest Coffees® are ultra-high-quality coffees grown in well-preserved environments. Our trademark recognizes the know-how of local farmers and their in-depth knowledge of coffee agroforestry techniques. It illustrates the model’s environmental, social and economic merits.

Agroforestry allows farmers to diversify their income: agricultural production, timber and firewood, fodder, fruit, honey, etc. And thus reduce the vulnerability of the producer with less dependence on a single crop. The impact on biodiversity and soil quality is also considerable.

Fresh Coffee Clean Ocean: Our brand that guarantees you a decarbonized sea transport by 70 to 90% for your coffees.

Meeting El Maestro: Don Herbert Betancourt

Alaka is the name of a village located at an altitude of about 2,000 metres in the woreda of Hambela, in the Guji appellation. It is here that METAD took over the management of a beautiful coffee forest at the end of the 2010s. The area is known for its majestic trees of numerous species. Their shade, combined with rich soils, contribute to the production of a rare quality of coffee. The cherries are harvested by METAD, then dried in the sun on African beds.

Metad Alaka (8).jpg

The origins of coffee in Guji go back several centuries, with wild varieties growing naturally in the region's forests. Local communities, mainly of the Oromo ethnic group, used coffee in their traditional practices long before it was commercially exploited.&nbsp;
For a long time, the Guji appellation was included in the Sidama appellation. In order to better distinguish the quality of the coffee produced here, this designation was separated by the Ethiopian authorities in the 2000s. This new designation makes it possible to refine the traceability of Ethiopian coffees and, above all, to better reflect their quality in terms of taste and typicality in the cup.&nbsp;
Today, the Guji appellation produces some of the finest coffees in the world. Coffee here is an ancient crop, grown on hilly plateaus in a dense forest or semi-forest environment, where the diversity of endemic species provides optimal shade for the coffee trees and contributes to the fertility of the soil.

Perched between 2,100 and 2,200 meters above sea level, Hambela lies in the Guji zone, in southern Ethiopia. This region stands out for its rich biodiversity, fertile soils, and cool climate, creating ideal conditions for producing exceptional coffees. Hambela is not just a place, it’s a living ecosystem, where indigenous trees, ancestral traditions, and high-altitude terroir come together to reveal the full potential of Ethiopian Arabica.
In the villages of Alaka, Korchema, and Goyo, coffee is grown under organic and semi-forest systems that preserve native shade trees such as Aningeria adolfi-friederici (qararo). These natural canopies protect the coffee plants and contribute to the preservation of both forests and soils.&nbsp;

The industry is segmented according to the different stages of production: growers, collectors and exporters. The growers deliver their cherries to collectors (akrabi), who own the necessary washing and drying stations to process cherries and parchment. Each collector is licenced to operate in a specific woreda (district). Growers also dry some cherries for sale to collectors of husks (djenfel), to create grade 4 and 5 natural lots. Some have their own stations and process their own cherries; these are generally farmers owning more than 35 hectares of land.&nbsp;
The collectors then deliver their lots to the ECX (Ethiopian Commodity Exchange) auction market, or directly to exporters under a vertical integration contract. Each grower, collector and exporter must have its own licence. It is possible for one person to own all licences.&nbsp;
Foreigners are not entitled to apply for a licence, but are authorised to operate as agents (Commercial Representative Office, or CRO). Those with investor status can own a plantation of at least 150 hectares and export their own production.&nbsp;

<ul>
<li>Station de lavage de Tatmara</li>
<li>Gestion de la canopée (Jimma, Kaffa)</li>
</ul>

Ethiopia is Arabica’s country of origin. It offers a rich mix of terroirs, biodiversity and practices that are unlike any other in the world of coffee. The high-altitude rainforests in the south-western region of present-day Ethiopia are where Arabica coffee originated from. Farmers still use these forests to grow coffee, in more or less complex agroforestry systems.&nbsp;
The Kaffa and Yayu biosphere reserves are now protected by UNESCO. Thousands of unidentified varieties grow there. 150 have been identified, and 35 are distributed by the Jimma Research Centre (JRC). They serve as a reservoir, a bit like a savings account, from which both JRC researchers and growers can draw to manage diseases such as rust or adapt to new growing altitudes and climate change. Wild coffee trees grow in nature at altitudes of 500 to 2,400 metres.&nbsp;
Local farmers have used their in-depth knowledge of the forests to develop original, resilient farming systems. The Jimma-Limmu-Gera, Nekemte and Kaffa appellation areas in the south-west and the Guji and West Arsi appellation areas to the south are dominated by a semi-forest system. In southern (Yirgacheffe, Sidama) and eastern (Harrar) Ethiopia, there are mostly orchards (gardens), with varying degrees of agroforestry adoption. Coffee is grown mainly in the highlands in southern and south-western Ethiopia, at altitudes ranging from 1,500 to 2,400 metres. Harvesting often coincides with the dry season, which means that all the coffees we supply can be sun-dried on tables.

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