Coffee Production, Variety and Tradingways to maximize Ethiopia’s benefits

Abstract

Coffee was selected as the thematic topic of the conference for dual reasons. The first is to pay tribute to the specialty of Dilla and the surrounding area as one of the hubs of the coffee agro-economy of the country. The second is to address core issues relevant to the national coffee enterprise. This is in reflection with the society’s mission to play a role in addressing development issues in a manner that has practical relevance. As such, the society’s annual conferences are designed to make valuable contributions rather than being events of formality. The conference will cover a whole range of topics of the coffee sector outlined as follows: Ethiopian coffee is the most preferred globally for its unique taste and flavor. As a result, it has a superior price than coffee supplied from elsewhere. For example, while the average coffee price is 1.39 USD/lb in the global market, Ethiopian high quality coffee could be sold at a premium price of up to 3.00 USD/lb. However, the productivity of Ethiopian coffee is inferior to other producers. This is reported to be mainly because of backward cultivation and harvesting system. If the productivity is improved, given the high market value of our coffee, the country's benefits will be increased substantially. Therefore, how to improve coffee productivity? is selected as one of the core topics of the conference. About 80% of the coffee in Ethiopia is produced in a forest or semi-forest polyculture production system. This also includes coffee produced as a garden crop. As opposed to the monoculture coffee plantation system, coffee growing in an integrated agro-forestry system mixed with other trees (also called shade-grown coffee) has considerable environmental advantages. Studies showed that shade-grown coffee absorbs 2.5 times more atmospheric C 0 2 than a monoculture full-sun grown coffee. In addition, agro-forestry-integrated coffee production promotes biodiversity conservation, reduction of soil erosion and environmental pollution - shadegrown coffee requires lower quantity of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Thus, the conference gives coverage to Ecosystem services o f coffee agro-forestry Controversy always surrounds equitability and fairness of benefit sharing in the value chain of the coffee trade. In most cases, coffee farmers get the least benefit and international companies earn the lion's share of the revenue. New benefit schemes have been in place in recent years which will help to improve the benefit of the farmers. Coffee fair trade is included in the conference agenda. The conference is expected to come up with a compilation of a list of major problems and suggested solutions of the Ethiopian coffee enterprise. The compilation document will be communicated with the relevant stakeholders for further enrichment and formulation of action plans. Finally, I would like to take this moment to extend my deepest gratitude to our sponsors and partners: Ethiopian Institute of Biodiversity, Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, Environment and Coffee Forest Forum, Ministry of Science and Technology, Addis Ababa University Departments of Microbial, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management and Zoological Sciences, CASCAPE, African Center for Disaster Risk Management.