Moredocofe

Moredocofe stands for ‘Mora Mora River Valley Development Organic Coffee’ and was founded in 2002 by Haile (“pronounced Hi-léh” ) Gebre and his wife Dimbelal Endale. They own two farms and a washing station under the Moredocofe umbrella, and work with over 2,000 independent coffee farmers in the region.

Moredocofe (pronounced “Moor’d-coff”) is a farm located in the Shakisso ‘woreda’ (administrative district) in the Guji zone, in Ethiopia’s Southern Oromia State, about 500km south of capital Addis Adaba. It is considered a semi-forest coffee estate, meaning forest is managed to allow coffee to grow throughout it. As a result, coffee trees benefit from growing alongside the native flora, which provide protection from the sun and create a rich source of nutrients from the leaves and debris that decompose on the forest floor.

In total, founders Haile and Dimbelal own around 500 hectares of land in Shakisso—which is very unusual in Ethiopia—and have planted 420 hectares with semi-forest coffee. The remaining land is dedicated to pure forest, as the pair have taken a very careful and considered approach to farming coffee.

Haile has a long, storied career in public service: from a post in the Ethiopian navy, to working with the Ministry of Land Reform and becoming a passionate advocate of coffee cooperatives in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. To many he is known as ‘the father of Ethiopian cooperatives,’ as he once headed the national Bureau for Cooperatives and established the first coffee union, OCFCU, to represent the Oromia region’s cooperatives.

Haile is also passionate about organic farming, and believes that this is the only truly sustainable way to produce coffee. One of his core beliefs is that what you take out of the earth—like fruit from the trees—you should put back into the earth in equal measure. To achieve this, Haile has a program to compost organic material, including the pulp from coffee cherries, which he encourages the farmers he partners with to follow.

In addition to their farm, Moredocofe is also dedicated to working with local independent coffee farmers (or ‘out-growers’ as they are commonly referred to in Ethiopia) to produce exceptional quality coffee. Haile recognises that most of the local out-growers face the challenges of a changing climate, lack a formal farming education, and have limited access to quality and sustainability initiatives. By providing them with assistance in overcoming these challenges, Haile helps secure a future for the local coffee industry, and a constant supply of cherry for Moredocofe.

Haile’s philosophy revolves around growing with his producing partners and doing this in a sustainable way. He is enthusiastic in the belief that his success can only come from the success of his local community in Shakiso, his out-growers, and his customers. With this in mind, Moredocofe has implemented many social programs to help develop their neighbouring communities. For example, they have established a nursery for propagating coffee seedlings, and they have made this large enough to share coffee seedlings with all of the nearby out-growers free of charge. He sees this as an incentive for his local community to continue to expand and rejuvenate their coffee plantations.

Haile has also provided the farming community with extensive education on cherry selection, harvesting, and sound agricultural practises. He has a sample roaster and gives producers the opportunity to cup their coffees and better understand the feedback around taste. Outside the coffee fields, Haile has helped build two primary schools for his local community, which provide care and education to the children of his out-grower partners.