Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.
But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.
Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price.
EMA (Equitable Marketing Association) was established in 1977 with the joint effort of seven cooperatives with 234 craftspersons and 9 individual social activists. At present, EMA has 42 corporate members, 6 founder members, 71 staff members and 96 individual artisans. All the members constitute the general body of this Fair Trade Organisation. The capacity and size of EMA has grown steadily over the years. 
