Ethiopia Coffee Farmers

One of ethiopia s most important commodities coffee accounts for about 30 percent of ethiopia s exports and employs nearly 15 percent of the population.

Ethiopia coffee farmers. We are familiar with the statistic that coffee farmers typically earn less than 10 percent per pound of the retail value for their coffee. Most ethiopian coffee farmers don t have those resources davis says. In the birthplace of coffee ethiopian farmers are adopting new practices to enhance a way of life that s been passed down for generations. Yirgacheffe coffee farmers cooperative union ycfcu and sidama coffee farmers cooperative union scfcu both located in southern ethiopia.

Ethiopia is the biggest exporter of coffee in africa and coffee accounts for 22 percent of the country s commodity exports. We source coffee from two primary level cooperatives in ethiopia. While there are some large commercial farms most are smallholder farms. Ethiopia itself accounts for around 3 of the global coffee market.

The ethiopian commodity exchange ecx a strong domestic demand wide variations in traditional processing methods and an incredibly diverse natural landscape have all further contributed to the blurring of the map lines making ethiopia s coffee landscape a potentially difficult one to navigate for buyers in terms of traceability. While all the winning coffee farmers can celebrate the achievement holding the green coffee competition was an impressive feat unto itself made possible through a collaboration between the ethiopian coffee and tea authority usaid s feed the future ethiopia value chain activity and coe organizer the alliance for coffee excellence ace. The plant is now grown in various parts of the world. The struggle of small scale coffee farmers is not news to anyone in the industry.

In global markets ethiopia s arabica coffee is valued for its unique taste. Coffee production in ethiopia is a longstanding tradition which dates back dozens of centuries. Ethiopia s future depends on coffee. Many farmers don t even have their own transportation.

Ethiopian yirgacheffe coffee ethiopian yirgacheffe is an exotic bean with a distinct fruity flavor profile and floral aroma grown at elevations ranging from 5 800 to 6 600 feet. Ethiopia is where coffea arabica the coffee plant originates. Ninety five percent of the country s coffee is cultivated by an estimated 4 million primarily smallholder often poor farming households. Generally the bean is grown hand picked and processed on small family owned coffee farms.

A quick google search of the term coffee farmers yields pages of results with various iterations of the same message coffee farmers are barely breaking even. Most ethiopian coffee farmers don t have those resources davis says.