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                                                                                                                         Sicily can give some inspiration to Ethiopia. This is   education or vocational training. In Sicily, 39.3 percent
                                                                                                                         what a new origin can offer to a traditional one.   of females and 35.8 percent males aged 15 to 29 years
                                                                                                                             Seize  All Opportunities  to Create  Educa-  are neither working nor studying.
                                                                                                                         tion Systems Italians’ passion for coffee is written   In this context, this makes coffee education par-
                                                                                                                         in their DNA. As a developed country, it’s common   ticularly important in Sicily. More and more education-
                                                                                                                         for coffee professionals to take professional coffee   al programs are being carried out here in recent years.
                                                                                                                         related classes, like Q Grader courses, barista cours-  We noticed that a new coffee related project to
                                                                                                                         es, roasting courses and so on, but the chances to   fight educational poverty has opened in Sicily this
                                                                                                                         get  the  knowledge  in  coffee  farming  and  coffee   year.  Paspartù,  a  recreational  space  for  minors,
                                                                                                                         processing are limited. “They don’t know how cof-  opened in the historic center of the town of Acate,
                                                                                                                         fee arrives from the other side of the world to their   with two game rooms, a coffee area, a computer room
                                                                                                                         local cafe. Teaching the public more about coffee is   offering  digitization  courses  and  another  room  for
                                                                                                                         important  to  change  the  way  everyone  buys  and   conferences and theater classes. The project’s mis-
                                                          New Origins, New Focus
                                                                                                                         drinks coffee,” Adriano said.               sion is to contrast educational poverty in a geograph-
                                                                                                                             So, he opens the plantation to the public to teach   ic area characterized by the presence of greenhous-
                                                              Starting With Sustainability When Adriano
                                                                                                                         and explain to them how coffee is grown. To celebrate   es employing migrant agricultural laborers. Migrants
                                                          Cafiso with his neighbor Giovanni Balistrieri start-
                                                                                                                         this year’s harvest, Adriano and his friend held the first   make up a large part of Italian farmers. According to
                                                          ed  planting  coffee  in  La  Finca  Balistrieri,  it  was
                                                                                                                         class in Italy on coffee harvest and post-harvest process.   the Italian farmers association CIA-Agricoltori Ital-
                                                          mainly  because  the  soil  was  deteriorating,  even
                                                                                                                             What is of interest is that according to the data   iani, as of the end of 2020, there were 357,768 work-
                                                          though Ragusa Province is one of the biggest pro-
                                                                                                                         released by Statista Research Department in 2021, in   ers in Italian fields that had been born abroad out of
                                                          ducers of greenhouse produce.
                                                                                                                         Italy, the Southern regions record the highest share   900,000  total,  accounting  for  29.3%  of  the  overall
                                                              By planting some tropical trees, they saw improve-
                                                                                                                         of people who are unemployed and not receiving an   employment in terms of days worked.
                                                          ments and a regeneration of the soil vitality that Adri-
                                                          ano considered to be the key to their experiment.
                                                               “Papaya,  avocado,  pitaya  and  mango  are  the
                                                          fruits that are grown near to the coffee trees. In this
                                                          case, it’s a symbiosis situation—these fruits will en-
                                                          hance the outcome of the coffee cherries. For example,
                                                          the  avocado  tree  supplies  the  soil  with  nitrogen,
                                                          helping the coffee. Each tropical fruit mentioned will
                                                          change  the  results  in  a  specific  way,  this  is  still  an
                                                          on-going research process,” Adriano said.
                                                              Pests and diseases can ruin coffee crops. They’re
                                                          trying their best to work only with organic fertilizers
                                                          and beneficial insects. They also have beekeeping near
        By planting some                                  the coffee plantation, which helps the place maintain
                                                          a sustainable ecosystem.
        tropical trees,                                   very concerned about the coffee in Ethiopia where it
                                                              When  talking  about  sustainability,  Adriano  is
        they saw improve-                                 is considered to be the birthplace of coffee. “Ethiopi-
                                                          an coffee remains the type of coffee that requires more
        ments and a regen-                                protection in the whole African continent. Currently
                                                          there  are  hundreds  of  Arabica  varieties  in  Ethiopia
        eration of the soil                               that  are  going  through  an  on-going  individuating

        vitality that                                     process. To accomplish that we’ll need to put an en-
                                                          vironmental  protection  policy  in  place  and  reshape
                                                          the washing processes that are still too traditional and
        Adriano considered                                harmful  to  the  environment.  In  Ethiopia,  coffee  is
        to be the key to                                  grown by many small producers and the on-going war
                                                          from the last two years made it hard for the country
        their experiment.                                 to develop. How could we leave such a unique coffee
                                                          behind?” Maybe the experience of coffee growing in


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