Italian Groups Leading $2.6M Investment in Ethiopian Coffee Industry

April 10, 2017 Semonegna Business 0

Stakeholders at the project signing ceremony in Addis Ababa, 3 April 2017 (PHOTO: UNIDO)

Ernesto Illy Foundation said they will work closely with Ethiopian coffee institutions, including the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Development and Marketing Authority

By Nick Brown (Daily Coffee News) |

Italian agencies and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) have signed a financing agreement that will invest approximately $2.6 million USD in the Ethiopian coffee sector in a project called “Improving the Sustainability and Inclusiveness of the Ethiopian Coffee Value Chain through Private and Public Partnership.”

Supported by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, the project will be implemented by UNIDO in partnership with Italian coffee giant Illycaffè and the Ernesto Illy  Foundation, the Illy-family-run nonprofit that has historically focused on scientific research in the coffee sector. The groups said they will work closely with Ethiopian coffee institutions, including the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Development and Marketing Authority, which was officially re-formed last May.

The overarching goal of the three-year project is to increase the quality, traceability and international recognition of Ethiopian coffee to increase export revenues and generate more income for the country’s thousands of smallholder farmers.

With implementation in Addis Ababa and the Oromia and SNNP regions, the program is being designed to provide direct support to smallholders and cooperatives through the dissemination of best practices for coffee agronomy, along with tool kits for post-harvest processing, washing station infrastructure development, cupping laboratory creation and modern marketing strategies.

Read the complete story at Daily Coffee News
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