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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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