Steve’s Nigeria Trip - Day 9

Hi!
 
I failed to mention that yesterday when traveling back from Kano in the north we stopped to visit with two small coffee farmers, which hadn’t been part of our plans.  These farmers have between 200-1000 trees each. They were excited to talk about their farms and wells but both had needs for pumps, costing $600 dollars or less, in order to get the water out more efficiently. They also took us to their mud homes (huts) that were built by their ancestors, giving us a unique glimpse inside their lives.
 
Today we started by visiting a local farmer who worked in the government for 16 years as a secretary. Now he has 7,000 trees and a good water situation. He and another farmer with 4,000 trees were both extremely interested in the idea of roasting, packaging, and selling the coffee locally. When I meet with the Governor, I talked to him about our old roaster.  I will see if the government will pay for the shipping and if the present Co-op or Coffee Alliance will purchase it on a micro finance arrangement.
 
Next we went to Bala’s farm that covers 250 acres and has 12 wells, one being the deep water well we helped to completion.
 
We then went to the school Bala and his wife started and maintain for kids from age two to grade 4.  This is three additional grades since my visit 7 months ago. At the graduation ceremony I was the one handing out the diplomas.
 
Finally, we went to NIFES and interviewed the President who will be putting his invitation on you-tube for the 2010 Conference.
 
As you can see it was a paced day.
Steve
Jos, Nigeria

Featured Coffee

El Salvador Cup of Excellence (1lb) / $13.50

Cup of Excellence is a program that works to bring together the best coffee to the consumer while bringing profit to the growers. This years #1 coffee went for over $20 a pound, and that’s before roasting! What happens is the growers select the best field or crop of coffee and bring it to the auction cupping in the Host country. This year’s cup of excellence auction was for El Salvador. We were able to sample 24 lots of amazing coffees and picked out what we perceived to be the best lot so that we could bring this exceptional coffee to you. It is amazingly fruity in the cup with bright lemony flavors, but also a subtle mango flavor as well.  It was very rich and very smooth, with a bit of a roasted almond flavor.  You won’t want to miss this, as it is a limited offering.  When it is gone, it is gone.  Enjoy!

FREE SHIPPING COUPON!!

Get free shipping on all orders over $24.45 from now until October 31st!  To redeem this coupon, enter “FSF08″ in the coupon code box when checking out.