ADDIS ABABA- With a view to replacing old coffee trees, over 1.5 million coffee seedlings will be planted this rainy season, Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority told The Ethiopian Herald.
The young coffee plants are improved species which would help increase production, said
Authority’s Coffee, Tea and Spices Extension Directorate Director Berhanu Tsegaye The replacement will take place by planting 70 percent new seedlings and by pruning [cutting branches and top of the tree to encourage production] 30 percent of the old trees, according to him.
Indicating as 90 percent of the planting program will undergo in Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s States, the director added as the program includes the surrounding environs of Dire Dawa and Harari state.
The agro-ecological zone and soil fertility of the states and the environs of the city make coffee production viable, he added.
He also mentioned specific ecological regions where the replacement and pruning would be held listing as Jimma, Kaffa, Masho, West Wollega, Illubabor and Bale.
Two coffee growing districts in each of the states of Benishangul Gumuz and Gambela are also in the scheme.
The country produced around 494,000 tons of coffee over the just ending fiscal year and the current seeding plantation is aimed at improving the production to 800, 000 tons of coffee in three years’ time.
According to him, old coffee species covers 700,000 hectare of land.
The Ethiopian Herald July 5/2019
BY MISGANAW ASNAKE
