Ethiopia, Africa’s biggest coffee producer, has set to triple its coffee production from current 600,000 tons to 1.8 million tons by 2024.
ADDIS ABABA (APA)–The country has set the target through introducing production and marketing reforms that could as much as triple its output in five years.
The country is replacing old trees and cutting existing ones to allow new stems to sprout as aging trees become less productive.
Old trees account for about 60 percent of the 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of trees in coffee production, while another 1.5 million hectares aren’t yet yielding beans, according to the authority.
◌ ALSO: Bench Maji coffee producers struggle to reach market — Bench Maji Zone, Ethiopia
New trees in the country, where smallholders account for almost all output, take about three to four years to start producing.
The government, non-governmental organizations and research centers are helping to implement the changes, Adugna Debela, director general of the authority, said Thursday (14th February) in an interview in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.
Marketing reforms are helping producers skip some stages of the supply chain, Adugna said.
That will help increase income for farmers, who currently receive about 60 percent of the price of coffee, he said.
“Under the new reforms, farmers can directly export,” he said.
“We are creating awareness and this will be materialized this production year.”
Ethiopia exports the bulk of its beans to Europe and the U.S., and is trying to tap new markets in Asia, especially China, South Korea and Japan, Bote said.
China has the potential to take half of Ethiopia’s shipments, he said.
Source: APA
——
Other stories:
- Coffee faces a double threat to its existence in eastern Ethiopia
- Ethiopia, Burundi can do more to gain from on coffee niche markets
- INTERVIEW ― Ethiopian coffee producers, exporters eye vast Chinese market
- UNIDO promotes partnerships between governments of Brazil and Ethiopia to boost coffee industry in Ethiopia
- Climate change and deforestation are putting more than half of the world’s wild coffee species at risk, scientists said