Ethiopia first came into my focus years ago, when I worked on my diploma thesis about the costs and benefits of fair trade coffee. Back then, my interest quickly shifted from abstract numbers to the farmers themselves – their stories, their struggles, their hopes.

Ethiopia is one of Africa’s largest coffee producers. Its landscapes offer ideal conditions for agriculture, and coffee has been part of life and livelihood here for centuries. Yet while coffee today is traded globally at record highs, the farmers at its origin rarely share in the profits of this boom.

The reality is complex: rural regions lack infrastructure, climate change demands flexibility, and many farmers face the challenge of surviving on low margins from poorly processed standard coffee. Without fairer systems, migration to overcrowded cities often seems like the only option.

One key is local education and empowerment: teaching farmers how to improve quality, diversify crops, and create specialty coffees that command higher prices. True progress will come when African economies are taken seriously – not only as sources of raw goods, but as equal partners in trade.

Fair Trade is better than Aid. But fair trade must go beyond a label. It must become a practice that gives farmers a real chance to live from what they grow.

And perhaps, somewhere in Ethiopia, Caldi’s legend still echoes – the herdsboy whose goats once discovered the magic of coffee beans.

Thank you to Leonore Grünberg + Family, Carl Cervone, Moata Raya, Moritz and Anna-Lena.