To achieve what is expected from any sector, plenty of hard work and commitments are needed. In the path of upgrading the Ethiopian economy, the government, along with responsible stakeholders, has been doing its level best.
Time is the witness how the government of Ethiopia has strived to get the best out of country’s untapped resources. Taking the leading role out of the many resources in which the country is blessed with, coffee registered its ever high record by generating remarkable amount of hard currency. In addition to its origination from Ethiopia, coffee that is known as a Green Gold locally has become one of the most valuable commodities in the world market. Thus, the country, aiming to exploit the resource properly, has exerted concerted effort on modernized coffee production.
To put the matter in clear words, it is understood that Ethiopia has not generated what was expected from the sector in the past many years. Though the country has been producing and exporting tons of coffee, the income was very low in the return. Instead of flowing in the pipeline of the previous history in coffee production and to achieve better result, stakeholders have worked tirelessly teaming up with the government to upscale its yield qualitatively and quantitatively.
For Ethiopians, coffee is everything. The people of Ethiopia praise the coffee ceremony because it has tremendous advantages for them. In many occasions, coffee ceremony is expressed as the living newspaper for most households and neighborhoods. During the ceremony of ‘Let’s Have Coffee’ or locally ‘Bunna Tetu’, people gather and discuss the economic, political and social issues of the country. They even use it to talk about their own problems. In addition to its social advantages, coffee is the backbone of the country’s economy.
Comparing to other products, Ethiopian coffee has variety of tastes so that many countries get used to those varieties. In many countries including the US and Europeans, Ethiopian coffee products are highly needed.
The best way to change the production system of the crop is to create an environment that can give broader opportunity for participants to work with their full capacity. One inspiring measure that the government of Ethiopia has taken was designing and implementing a reform that can provide a suitable atmosphere.
In recent times, reports have been started popping up from different directions telling that Ethiopian coffee farmers are reaping what they sowed. Not only that, the government is generating better income from the world’s largest circulated commodity.
According to a report from Coffee Geography Magazine, Ethiopia’s income from coffee products registered 113 percent increase in the last nine months. The report also added that main reason to score such figure is the reform that the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority has implemented.
The report indicated that the authority has created a way to transform the capacity of coffee farmers and paved ways for foreign coffee companies to directly engage in international markets. The magazine highlighted that the government created a system that international coffee traders can build their relations with small coffee farmers and cooperatives without contacting the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange system. Such bonds have secured long term supply with better quality.
By acquainting such system, coffee farmers have begun earning much better incomes in the past three years. Besides, the path that the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority used to transform the entire system brought better results, the report noted.
The magazine’s report further stated, “During the previous government from 1990 – 2019, farmers were ill-treated due to lack of transparency with corrupt practices of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange. Since ECTA is restructured with new administration headed by Adugna Debela, the coffee agency has been able to formulate the system to keep the interest of the farmers as well as the foreign buyers who deserve the quality products from the source.”
On the other hand, the government of Ethiopian along with responsible institutions has organized various forums and events to promote the Ethiopian coffee products. A simple illustration is Ethiopian embassies around the world have been organizing forums with the objective of promoting and tying up business relations.
Days before, it was reported that the Ethiopian Embassy in Beijing has organized Ethiopian coffee promotion virtual discussion dubbed ‘Coffee from the Land of Origins’. In the virtual discussion, more than 92 coffee enterprises both from Ethiopia and China have attended the event.
In addition to the representatives of enterprises, delegates from Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration, Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority and from the Chinese side, Chinese Coffee Association, Beijing Coffee Association and Ethiopian Coffee Culture Center also participated on the discussion.
Director General of Middle East and Asian Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Gebeyehu Ganga on his opening speech said that the two countries have built deep- rooted strategic partnership that will continue in all sectors under the framework of Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
Moreover, Secretary General of the Chinese Coffee Association, Lucy Fujingya disclosed that the Ethiopian coffee products are very much liked by Chinese coffee consumers. She also mentioned about further economic relationship with the whole Africa through ‘green lanes’ initiative.
With all these efforts to modernize the whole system and maximize the quality and quantity of Ethiopian coffee products, the government and the coffee farmers have reaped what they sowed. According to the report of Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, for the first time, Ethiopia generated over one billion USD from the commodity exports in the past ten months of the current fiscal year.
Having stayed with the Ethiopian Press Agency, the Authority’s Deputy Director, Shafi Umer said that after the authority started transformation to minimize the coffee trade chain and creating favorable environment to the trade system, around 1500 farmers got their export licenses.
The director recalled that the previous coffee trade system halted the fair and equal beneficiary of coffee farmers. He added that currently, coffee farmers are getting 92 percent from the trade.
Regarding to exporting value added coffee products; the director noted that in the trade chain, there were numerous greedy traders who failed to add the expected value on the products. Due to this, farmers did not have the chance to get what they were expecting. The director also added that the export system was not attractive enough for traders. It was because of its long procedures. In order to alleviate those challenges, the authority has conducted a study that paves the way to better achievements.
He added, “The conducted study brought about an opportunity that allows farmers to directly export their products to foreign markets. Similarly, it has given green light to the farmers to export other items. Apart from exporting directly, the farmers are enabled to supply to commodity exchange, to be organized in trade associations as well as to equally share benefits with others in the market chain.”
To wrap up the ideas, with the untapped natural resources that Ethiopia blessed, the country has not been benefited as expected. As the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority has experienced, various researches have to be done in order to develop a system that can benefit the entire country. Better ways and scientific procedures are the key to change a bottle- neck system that holds the country back. This kind of achievements can be an example for other institutions and to achieve the set goals as a country.
Coffee farmers should get the right benefit from their products
BY DANIEL ALEMAYEHU
The Ethiopian Herald 24 May 2022
