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               View from Finca La Mula, Panama Regards, Willem
  Willem Boot

 Willem Boot is a coffee educator, consultant and geisha coffee producer in Panama. Willem
 is CEO of Boot Coffee, a specialized consulting and training company  in California, USA. The
 training programs of his company can be found at coffeecourses.com and at bootcoffee.com.





 in the upgrade of their production sites. The micro-mill   FINAL COMMENTS by Author:
 program was launched in early 2019 and specifically for this
 initiative we incorporated innovative concepts for the design   While I’m hunkered down in the comfort of my own
 of the drying beds and for the selection of the ecologically   home, I’d like to express my deepest respect to the coffee
 friendly pulpers. A comprehensive training and start-up   producers around the world. For that reason, this article is
 program  was  launched  by  our  brilliant  Ethiopian  partners   dedicated to the millions of coffee farming families and their
 from Coqua Consulting. Together with our wonderful col-  workers who continue harvesting and producing our pre-
 leagues from USAID, who went above and beyond to facilitate   cious coffee beans despite all these ongoing challenges.
 the micro-mill initiative, we were able to build at least 30   Cheers to you all!
 micro-mills in record time. The remaining micro-mills will
 come online during the next harvest.
 The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic took all coffee                                               Photo / Willem Boot
 producers in Ethiopia by surprise. Fortunately, all coffee had
 already been harvested and secured in the country’s coffee
 warehouses. I interviewed two coffee producers about the
 impact of the pandemic on their livelihoods.
 Micro-mill Producers: Impact of the Pandemic


 Demek Wana Basha
 Bench Sheko zone, Debub bench woreda, Miya kebele

 I started learning about coffee farming and coffee pro-
 duction as a child. Now I am 32 years old and own a mi-
 cro-mill. I have a wife and four kids:  Two sons and two
 daughters. They all go to school. The coronavirus has affect-
 ed our business a lot. We haven’t been able to transport our
 coffee and there are hardly any workers to clean and select
 the beans. Hand sanitizers, masks, and soap are very expen-
 sive. It’s a terrible situation for all of us. I’m praying for a
 brighter future.

 Nejib Hajji Sadik Abakoyas
 Jimma Zone, Gera Worda, Sedi Kebele


 I have six children: Five boys and one girl. My wife helps
 out in our micro-mill and she does the accounting. So far we
 haven’t encountered any problems due to the coronavirus.                                         Photo / Coffee For Peace
 We are organizing prevention awareness training and we
 protect ourselves. Fortunately, we have been able to face the
 challenges by working hard and by keeping faith in our abil-
 ity to succeed.



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