Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and it discovered earlier. Ethiopia is the geographic home of Coffee Arabica, the most popular beans worldwide.
And, Ethiopia is one of the largest coffee producers in Africa and ranks fifth in the world after Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Indonesia. Ethiopia has various coffee genetics and beans with variety of flavors that are well preferred by the global community. Half of the coffee is consumed by Ethiopians, and the country leads the continent in domestic consumption.
Ethiopia produces large volumes of coffee beans every year. More than 15 million Ethiopians are directly and indirectly involved with the coffee sector. Oromia and SNNPR (Southern Nations Nationality Peoples’ Region) are the two major coffee producing regions.
The major markets for Ethiopian coffee are the EU (about 42% of the total export), East Asia (about a quarter) and North America.
Last week, Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA) launched a five year project, EU-CAFE (EU-Coffee Action For Ethiopia), worth 15 million Euro financed by the European Union to boost Ethiopia’s coffee production.
European Union provided the finance as per of efforts to address constraints in coffee production and marketing and modernize all activities related to coffee producing, supplying, marketing, processing, and exporting.
As revealed on the launching ceremony, the project will be implemented by ECTA in collaboration with states coffee and tea authorities and the project will be source of livelihood for over five million smallholder farmers.
Director General of ECTA, Dr. Adugna Debela briefed journalists that Ethiopia is the largest coffee producer in Africa and the fifth largest producer in the world.
According to him, the main aim of this project is to improve coffee productivity and tackle the problems in marketing system. “The project will be implemented in 28 woredas of the three regional states Oromia, SNNPR and Amhara. “These woredas – 16 woredas in oromia, 10 woredas in SNNPR, and 2 woredas in Amhara region – are known for their high coffee production.”
The project is used to improve the quality of Ethiopian coffee and then to benefit our country from the coffee sector, he said. When the project is implemented, the project has five sections. Creating platform for private public partnership is among these five sections, he added.
Rural Transformation Program Team Leader at European Union, Dominique Davoux, stated that Ethiopia’s coffee has no quality related problems by nature. It only loses its quality due to its processing system – from collecting to its marketing process.
He said that coffee is an important source of income to Ethiopia and essential part of EU trade. EU countries collectively import 42 percent of the total coffee export of Ethiopia, he said, adding that Europe is the main trading partners of Ethiopia. The project is helpful to set a fair price tag for Ethiopian coffee at international market.
As stated by him, Ethiopia has suitable ecology to produce quality coffee. Due to this, Ethiopia has a great opportunity to dominate the global market.
One of the prominent coffee exporters, Abdellah Bagersh, presented that there are many challenges in the coffee sector.
People who are engaged in coffee sector face many challenges from producing to exporting, he said, adding that these challenges are related to: quality problems, supply fragmentation, local consumption, logistical costs, black market, warehouse, and others.
According to him, this project would solve these challenges and the project has socio-economic and environmental significance. And also, it would tackle institutional factors those limiting Ethiopia coffee sector development.
On his part, Sani Redi, State Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the project aims building capacity of coffee producers, suppliers, traders, processors, and exporters. “The project is vital for national economy.”
He said that EU occupies the largest position among Ethiopian coffee buyers. To improve Ethiopia’s coffee quality, EU provides 15 million euro at every five year.
According to him, EU has been supporting Ethiopia by bringing coffee species those resist coffee disease; and by encouraging researches to improve productivity and quality of Ethiopian coffee.
The Ethiopian Herald September 13, 2019
BY ABDUREZAK MOHAMMED
