Bekele Belaycho
- First time cooperation: 2025
- Cooperation model: Indirect Trade
About
Bekele Belaycho is an independent coffee producer and organizer operating in the Bensa area of Ethiopia. Through a model that combines direct cultivation with controlled sourcing, Bekele not only produces coffee but also coordinates harvesting, processing, and supply activities, forming a production system characterized by autonomy and a clear quality-driven orientation.
The farm’s operations are closely tied to its family structure. With the direct involvement of family members, the farm is run as a unified production unit where traditional knowledge is combined with modern management thinking.
At present, Bekele owns a main farm in Bombe and a smaller farm of approximately 5 hectares in Kokose, which is equipped with a dedicated drying station. In addition to the production from these plots, he also sources coffee from neighboring smallholders with similar growing conditions, forming a “central farm – satellite producers” model. Annual output reaches approximately 1.5 containers of green coffee, grown at an average elevation of around 2,200 meters above sea level.
A connecting role within the smallholder system
Within the production structure of Bensa, Bekele Belaycho functions more as an organizational anchor than as an individual producer. By maintaining long-term cooperative relationships with surrounding smallholders, he has gradually built a supply network based on trust and mutual understanding. Bekele supports farmers in market access, while also aligning harvest timing, ripe cherry selection practices, and input quality standards.
His personal credibility and transparent approach to collaboration have enabled Bekele to bring together more than 100 smallholder farmers into a clearly oriented production system. Rather than pursuing volume, this network focuses on increasing coffee value through consistent quality and traceability. Bekele’s connective role has therefore contributed to improved income for participating households and laid the foundation for the sustainable development of the local coffee-growing community.
Professional operations and processing experimentation
In practice, Bekele demonstrates a strong sense of professionalism and an open, collaborative mindset. He is willing to discuss, test, and implement any ideas that may improve coffee quality or bring long-term benefits to the community. Bekele has proactively expanded shaded drying areas to cover nearly the entire drying station, protecting naturally processed coffees from unfavorable weather conditions.
At this site, he produces multiple processing styles, including traditional natural, anaerobic, and lactic processes. Each process is closely monitored, from fermentation duration to drying conditions. Notably, the farm uses moisture meters to measure and verify final moisture levels before storage, ensuring stability and safety throughout storage and export.
Selection of variety 74158 and quality orientation
The practical value of the 74158 coffee variety in the Bensa area is truly realized through the way producers such as Bekele Belaycho select, apply, and develop it under specific growing conditions.
With many years of experience working alongside smallholders, Bekele has proactively introduced variety 74158 into production on farms located at an average elevation of approximately 2,200 meters, where cool climatic conditions and organic-rich soils allow the variety to express its full genetic potential.
Beyond cultivating the variety on his own farms, Bekele also plays a key role in guiding varietal selection for more than 100 neighboring smallholders who currently supply coffee to him. By encouraging the planting of 74158 and the adoption of selective harvesting practices, Bekele helps create uniformity in raw material input while improving the overall quality of the coffee lots.
Production development and independent export capacity
Bekele Belaycho currently holds his own export license and operates a production model that integrates cultivation and sourcing. He primarily grows variety 74158 on approximately 12 hectares under a semi-forested farming system. In parallel, Bekele operates collection sites in Bombe, Shantawane, and Kokose, where he sources coffee from smallholders farming at elevations of up to 2,300 meters above sea level.
A significant advancement in Bekele Belaycho’s production capacity has been the investment in processing equipment, particularly a de-pulper, with support from Crop to Cup. This equipment allows the farm to better control wet processing and to experiment with new processing methods, resulting in coffee lots with distinct character and higher added value.
Why we choose Bekele Belaycho
Bekele Belaycho represents an approach to coffee that places people, natural conditions, and time within the same frame of reference. He builds production not on scale or speed of expansion, but on deep understanding of the growing region, coffee varieties, and the surrounding smallholder community. His commitment to developing high-altitude farming systems, controlling quality from harvest through processing, and maintaining close ties with small-scale producers reflects a philosophy focused on core values rather than short-term gain.
These values are also what XLIII Coffee pursues in its own journey. Rather than seeking individual coffee lots, we choose to partner with producers who embody long-term, transparent, and responsible development thinking. Bekele Belaycho is not only a partner, but a representation of the way of working that XLIII Coffee believes in: respecting origin, investing in quality, and viewing the development of producer communities as the foundation for the sustainability of the entire value chain. From this shared point of alignment, the relationship between the two parties has been formed as a deliberate choice, grounded in mutual agreement on direction and vision.
