Ethiopia is the origin of organic coffee. Though, coffee has been the major export item for several decades, the nation has not been advantageous due to many factors.
Ethiopia should modernize its coffee agriculture and export method so as to maximize its foreign currency earnings, said Temesgen Ayele, Economics Lecturer at Addis Ababa University.
‘‘As its name indicates, coffee was first discovered in Kaffa Zone of Southern Ethiopia. It has been covering 60 percent the foreign currency earnings the nation has been generating for many decades. However, the amount is not satisfactory as compared to other coffee exporting countries. This scenario should be improved,’’ he states.
According to him, quality has pivotal role in making Ethiopian coffee more valuable and competitive in the global market and quality includes every step from crop planting, harvesting, marketing, storing and transporting.
Temesgen adds that dependency on rain-fed agriculture, improper tree management, lack of capability to export processed coffee and lack of promotion on the Ethiopian coffee brand have also been among the major challenges in boosting quality, quantity and export market performance.
In 2016/2017, coffee has covered 30 percent of Ethiopia’s export items and this shows coffee is still the major yield which is vital for gaining foreign currency earning, Tiruwork Tizazu, Import and export Trade Promotion Directorate, Acting Director at the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (ECCSA) said.
She stated that thwarting the bottlenecks confronting the export sector would directly enhance coffee export and its value chains.
Besides, exporting value-added coffee would improve the global demand of Ethiopian coffee and the government is striving on this regard. Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA) Director General Adugna Debela says that value added coffee export is still less than two percent and this has created negative impact on maintaining Forex.
The Director General underscores the need of promoting the brand of Ethiopian Coffee in the global arena as it could increase demand and competitiveness.
Having understood this, ECTA has planned to promote Ethiopian coffee brand in the international market starting from the coming September, according to him.
According to the Ministry of Trade 2017/2018 report, Ethiopia exports its coffee produce to over 60 countries mainly Germany, Saudi Arabia, United States, Belgium, Sudan, Japan and Italy. It has earned 917 million USD.
Temesgen recommends that searching more export destination would be vital through improving quality and value addition schemes.
‘‘Researches on coffee export indicate that there is poor transaction in Africa. There are initiations by the government to improve African markets. Not only that, Latin American and Asia markets should be targeted. To accomplish this mission, huge attention should be given for quality and we need to start sending processed coffee to compete with other countries as well,’’ he reaffirms.
Many farmers are shifting from planting coffee to other commercial crops due to the fluctuation of coffee price locally and globally, Temesgen said. He urges the government to give some subsidies for coffee growers and it should address the problems being noticed in the transaction chain.
‘‘It is labor intensive sector mostly being practiced by smallholding farmers. Those farmers need to be supported and encouraged to get what they deserve. There should be smooth way which connects the government, retailers, coffee growers and exporters. This would transform coffee export to higher level,’’ Temesgen points out.
Ethiopia has suitable climate, abundant water and land resource highly important for coffee growing. However, it has not been advantageous due to the aforementioned setbacks. The government and pertinent stakeholders should identify the challenges and find out solutions which are necessary for enhancing coffee export sector. If so, the nation would maximize its hard currency earrings.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 11 AUGUST 2019
BY TSEGAY HAGOS
