How Coffee Cooperatives Fight Poverty: The Duromina Story
Discover how a small group of Ethiopian farmers built an award-winning coffee cooperative that transformed their community from forgotten to flourishing.
How Duromina Transformed Coffee Farming in Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s remote Jimma region is the birthplace of Arabica coffee, where farmers have cultivated the crop for generations. While the climate and altitude are ideal for growing premium coffee, fifteen years ago, the region was known for producing a poor-quality cup. Traditionally, farmers left the coffee cherries to over-ripen and drop to the ground, often damaging the beans. Farmers received lower prices for their product, and the area remained trapped in a cycle of poverty until a group of farmers decided that they wanted better for their community.
In 2010, 110 farmers from three neighboring “kebeles” or neighborhoods broke away from their existing coffee organizations to form a new cooperative with a different approach. Inspired by a TechnoServe training through the Gates Foundation East Africa Coffee Initiative, they decided to try using a wet mill. This processing method uses water to separate the bean from the cherry and to wash and soak the beans, resulting in a higher-quality product. With hope for a more prosperous future, they named themselves “Duromina,” meaning “to improve their lives” in the Afan Oromo language.
TechnoServe supported Duromina through every stage of their new enterprise. They helped the farmers obtain a loan to establish their own wetmill and coffee pulper machine, provided agronomy training, and linked them to other actors in the coffee industry. On the business side, TechnoServe helped the cooperative write a business plan, trained its staff, and provided several years of management coaching. The training and guidance from TechnoServe catalyzed the enterprising spirit of the farmers, and soon, business was booming.
From Poverty to Profit: Duromina’s Rise to Global Recognition
Within its first year of operation, Duromina repaid its entire loan, ahead of the original four-year plan. The cooperative began distributing dividends to its farmers and expanding its operations. By 2012, it had constructed two additional wet mills, each with its own high-capacity pulper machine. That year, four major international roasters purchased 71 metric tons of green coffee through direct trade relationships with Duromina, paying an average of $3.68 per pound, a 65% premium over the international commodity price.
Soon, Duromina was making a name for itself. An international panel of professional judges selected Duromina’s coffee as the best in Africa, awarding the cooperative the top prize in the leading regional cupping competition. Buyers from Stumptown Coffee Roasters described Duromina’s coffee as an “extremely complex yet clean cup.” Duromina had accomplished the seemingly impossible, turning around the reputation of their small community of coffee growers and building a highly profitable enterprise.
Community Empowerment Through Coffee Cooperatives
With their new prosperity, the farmers of Duromina began reinvesting in their kebeles. The members used the first of their increased profits to build a road and a bridge for their remote community. Previously, the nearby river would swell during the rainy season, cutting off access to neighboring markets and a medical clinic. The new bridge allowed year-round passage to outside communities.
Over the next 15 years, the cooperative would continue to prioritize a “social premium,” allocating funds from its net profit toward initiatives to improve and enrich its surrounding communities.
The community now enjoys a meeting hall, built by Duromina, which is freely used to bring people together for events and clubs. Nurses live in a new residential house, and locals can attend a delivery class at the health center. Farmers have invested in their homes – tin roofs, new furniture, solar power – and the kebeles are connected to the power grid. Duromina provides financial assistance to low-income individuals, and each year, the cooperative distributes coffee and avocado seedlings and banana plantlets to farmers at no cost. Young people play soccer at the Duromina Sports Club, and the cooperative regularly supports the Red Cross Society.
Nasir Aba Fixaa, a founding member of Duromina, marvels at the changes, recalling a time when the community felt “isolated and forgotten,” adding, “Before Duromina, our community was stuck.” He explained that fifteen years ago, there was no clean water close by, and limited school and medical facilities. Duromina changed everything.
Now Nasir grins as he surveys his vibrant community: “After Duromina, look around! The cooperative used the social premium to bring clean water to the village… We also repaired the road together… We are now connected. We have a sense of pride in what we have built together. We are no longer forgotten; we are Duromina, known for quality.”
Nasir emphasized that “the best feeling is knowing that I am an owner,” and the cooperative has the freedom to make decisions together. He continued, “This co-op is ours. We elect the leaders. We see the finances. We decide the future. It’s not a company from the city telling us what to do. We are in control.”
How Coffee Farming is Creating Opportunities for Youth in Ethiopia
This new wealth will have a lasting impact on future generations. Nasir explained that the opportunities from Duromina have encouraged young people to stay in the community, saying, “They see that farming is no longer a life of poverty. It is a business.”
Thanks to Duromina’s reinvestment, the kebeles are benefiting from increased educational opportunities for children and young people. The cooperative paid for a new school roof so that the children can attend during the rainy season. It has constructed seven new kindergarten classrooms at the local elementary school and four new classrooms at a local preparatory school. Each year, Duromina purchases educational materials for the children of low-income farmers and has rebuilt a residential house for the farmers and their families. “It gives us pride to see our coffee doing that for our children,” said Nasir.
Hamziya Aba Oli is a coffee farmer and a mother of three whose children are directly benefiting from the changes. She said that for the first time, all of her children are in school and have the proper uniforms and books. “The co-op’s dividend allowed me to pay my children’s school fees for the entire year in advance,” she explained. “It was a moment of great pride for me. I want my children to have choices and not have to struggle as I did.”
Empowering Women Through Coffee Cooperatives
Hamziya has been a part of Duromina for over eight years and explains that as a woman farmer, the cooperative has given her a voice. She said that while she always worked hard on her family’s farm, she had no control over the money from the coffee. “But now, after Duromina, the payment for my coffee comes directly to me…I am respected because I contribute directly, and my husband listens to me.”
Duromina encourages women to join the cooperative, offering them flexible membership fees and full membership to the wives of existing male members. The cooperative provides women with education and training, ensures safe working conditions, encourages the election of women to committees, and facilitates discussions around gender roles. Hamziya mentioned that her example made an impression on her daughter. “I am a member with a vote and help make decisions for Duromina. My daughter sees this and knows she can be a leader, too.’’
The Future of Sustainable Coffee in Jimma, Ethiopia
Once a cooperative of 110 people, Duromina has grown to 437 members with nine full-time staff, an office building, and three wet mills, with plans to add another one soon. Since their inception in 2010, Duromina has consistently won at least two awards annually for their coffee quality and outstanding operations and management. The demand for their high-quality coffee is evident in their net income. The 2024-2025 harvest season yielded a net profit of 9 million Ethiopian birr (approximately $59,000), a 16% increase over the prices typically fetched by farmers in the region, if they decide to distribute the profits as a cash premium.
Though they have grown tremendously over the past 15 years, Duromina is just getting started. Their expansion plans include purchasing vehicles for coffee collection and export, widening their nursery sites, and opening a satellite office in another town.
They are excited to see their community continue to thrive. They hope to start distributing more seedlings to farmers for free, construct additional rural roads and bridges, and increase women’s involvement.
Why Coffee Cooperatives Bring Dignity and Economic Security
For Hamziya, being a part of Duromina means that she can look to the future with optimism. Before joining the cooperative, her family’s well-being was constantly undermined by the instability of coffee prices. She said, “It was a feast for two to three months and famine for the rest.” Being a part of the cooperative means that her coffee receives stable and fair prices. “We can finally plan,” Hamziya shared. “I no longer lie awake at night worrying about how to pay for school fees or what we will do if someone gets sick. Now, after every harvest, we make sure to put a little money away. It may not seem like much, but it’s a significant step towards securing our future. ’’
The freedom to make financial plans; access to quality education, healthcare, and roads; and equitable opportunities for all are the things that have given the community dignity and hope. They illustrate the ripple effect of TechnoServe’s approach and what can occur when a small group of hardworking, enterprising people is economically empowered to build prosperity.
Rather than keeping their wealth to themselves, they share it with their community, thereby breaking the cycle of poverty. Furthermore, these communities gain a sense of purpose and pride in knowing they have something to offer the world. As Hamziya said,
“The cooperative didn’t just give us money; it gave us dignity. When a buyer from Europe visits and shakes my hand, thanking me for my quality coffee, I go home and tell my family. They see that our work is valued across the world. This has changed how we see ourselves. We are not just poor farmers; we are skilled producers.”
The future is bright in Jimma, Ethiopia, where every success story fulfills the cooperative’s foundational mission: Duromina—”to improve their lives.”
