Agaro is a town located in the Jimma Zone of southwestern Ethiopia, in close proximity to forests that are credited as the birthplace of coffee itself. Clustered around Agaro town are scores of washing stations where local smallholder farmers deliver their freshly harvested coffee for processing.
Passenger has purchased coffees grown by Agaro farmers since 2016 and we currently rely on the support of two distinct producers, Kata Muduga Union and Addis Exporter, to process and export our annual selections.
Kata Muduga is an administrative umbrella organization that connects farmer cooperatives in the Agaro region with coffee buyers from around the world. Addis Exporter, a family-owned company led by Mike Mamo, operates two processing sites in the area and purchases coffee from many of the same farmers.
While they differ in scope and organizational structure, Kata Muduga and Addis Exporter share a view of specialty coffee production as a promising path to improved livelihoods for Ethiopian coffee farmers. Both entities place a large emphasis on the health of the communities that they work with through ongoing investment in social projects such as building schools, constructing roads, and improving community access to clean water.