ROME — Ethiopia has colossal opportunity to dominate global coffee market in the near future as the global coffee consumption is increasing, Director of Jimma Agricultural Research Center, Ashenafi Ayano said.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, Ashenafi said coffee producing countries like Brazil, have been exposed to various environmental challenges that forced them to trim down production while Ethiopia has coffee friendly ecosystem.
Brazil, the largest coffee producer in the world, accounting for about 53 percent of all output, and the major coffee producing Latin American countries have been facing various coffee diseases such as fungus, leaf rust and infestation by insects such as the berry borer beetle.
Thus, their coffee production has potentially declined while the demand of coffee in the global market has been increasing, he pointed out.
Similarly, with exception to few, 25 coffee producing African countries have not been able to operate due to lack of defined strategies.
“We have better opportunities to dominate the world coffee market. When we see Africa, there are only three countries namely Ethiopia, Uganda and Cote d’Ivoire which have better coffee strategies. Compared to both countries Ethiopia has better production and opportunity,” the Director noted.
Among others, India and China have scaled up their demand recently, according to the Director. The demand of the two most populous countries is estimated to increase by nearly 25 percent over the coming five years.
“We have the capacity to cope up with the ever increasing demand of coffee. We have suitable ecology, coffee producer population and we can use this opportunity to compete and dominate the international market,” he affirmed.
Naturally, Ethiopia’s coffee has no quality related challenges. Ethiopian coffee only loses its quality due to its processing system that chain starts from collecting to its marketing process, Ashenafi stated.
Director-General of Ethiopian Biotechnology Institute, Dr. Kassahun Tesfaye said “We have a great opportunity to dominate the global market as a nation, because we have suitable ecology to produce quality coffee.”
According to him, on the top of being the origin of coffee, Ethiopia has various coffee genetics and beans with variety of flavors that well preferred by the global community.
He stressed that “We have to work on the entire value chain from land preparation to export. If we follow the right value chain, Ethiopia can be at the top of global coffee market in the near future.”
The African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement, which was signed by AU member countries recently in Kigali, Rwandan, will offer an opportunity for Ethiopia to dominate the entire continent’s coffee market.
Coffee Expert at Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Development and Marketing Authority, Legesse Sultan said “Now, with the support of advanced technology, we have to work on promoting our coffee treasures to the rest of the world and become the better coffee producing nation.”
Promoting and increasing the production of Ethiopian coffee brands such as Yirgachefe, Harar and Sidamo among others will play crucial role to take over the global market.
“We are also working in collaboration with various stakeholders in combating contraband coffee trade in line with various strategies and proclamations.”
Ethiopia, home of coffee Arabica, envisages to be the second coffee producing country in the world by 2025.
