Ethiopia, known as a birth place of coffee, is registering inspiring success in upgrading the production capacity of the crop and accelerating its foreign currency earnings by marketing the product.
According to the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, the country earned more than 1.4 billion US Dollar in the completed budget year from coffee supplied to the world market. In the last September alone, 22,000 tons of coffee was exported to the foreign market and 90 million US Dollar was earned.
If it is possible to record the result of the current record, as of the Authority’s Director General Adugna Debela, then it is possible to achieve the plan of the current fiscal year that is to earn 1.8 billion US Dollar by supplying 326,000 tons of coffee to the foreign market.
True, since coffee is among the pillars of the country’s economy, the progress made in its production reflects that reality. The effort exerted to increase coffee production bears fruit, as to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, accomplishing the remarkable feat of producing 1 million tons, and domestic consumption has also risen significantly.
Being one of the most chosen hot beverages across the globe, coffee stands intact serving Ethiopia’s economy as a backbone. It is among the leading export products of Ethiopia preferred by many for its special taste. It takes the lion’s share in earning foreign currency for Ethiopia so that the effort made for the progress of its production is considered as the most valuable one.
Coffee is one of the most popular non-alcoholic beverages globally, prized for its aroma and caffeine content. Besides, it is the second-most-exported commodity in the world after oil. It is among the highly consumed products. More recently, the most devout coffee drinkers are found all over the world map. In the United States, annual consumption per capita is about 4.7 kilograms. The average person in the U.S. consumes about three cups of coffee per day, documents indicate. These are few indications how coffee is the lovely product across the globe.
Though the success Ethiopia registered in coffee production and marketing is remarkable, it is far away of the country’s potential so that more effort is needed to expand its cultivation. Without violating greening the planet with forest, coffee plantation can be performed in wide areas of the country.
In addition to increasing the amount of the product, efficient logistics are essential to the country’s coffee value chain and value addition remains crucial focus for the country. It needs great effort to provide processed coffee to the world market. However, the outcome will be rewarding; the effort exerted, the finance invested and the time allocated is not wastage. The country earns more foreign currency from value added coffee export than exporting first hand product or raw coffee.
In doing so, the country will improve its rank at the global level in coffee marketing. It deserves such privilege because it is the origin of the bean. Moreover, coffee production is considered as part of agriculture, the nation’s economic mainstay. For the country striving to be among the middle income countries, like Ethiopia, exploiting its resources fully is not optional; rather it is a preferred move to secure economic sovereignty via eradicating poverty and succeeding food self sufficiency. In a nutshell, moving forward, Ethiopia must dedicate itself to hard work and innovation to sustain and expand the success registered so far in coffee production and marketing.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER 2024
