ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopian Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical Industry Development Institute disclosed that it will soon establish a coffee processing development institute in a bid to boosting processed coffee products and increasing its export and foreign currency.
The establishment of the institute would help to assist country’s endeavor to increase finished product through providing trained professionals, the Institute Beverage Processing Industry Development Director Aklilu Kefyalew told The Ethiopian Herald.
As to him, it is significant to narrow the widening gap between processed and non-processed coffee export. “Raising the awareness of stakeholders and sphere professionals to boost finished product is critical to this end.”
According to him, the government has been doing its level best in curbing the sector bottlenecks through offering human resource development training , improving infrastructures and applying strictly legal proceedings.
The major constraints in the sector are lack of quality and sufficient input, finance to import high tech machinery and manufacturers’ low capacity, he said.
The government has revised proclamations to increase foreign investment and allowed investors to import machinery duty free, he stated.
The establishment of coffee processing development institute would support both private owners and associations organized to provide processed coffee product through providing competent professionals, said Minilik Habtu, Managing Director of Typica Specialty Coffee Exporter.
All the design and structure of the institute have been already finalized and its construction would begin within three months, he noted…
Trained professionals that would graduate from the institute would have global experience in producing processed coffee and help the country’s effort to penetrate the international market, he said.
“This would also help to save the money that has been spent on overseas training for professionals in the sector.”
Country’s domestic coffee processing companies lack capacity to export a wide range of processed coffee product and the institute would help improving human resource development, he told.
It was learnt that the country is now working in collaboration with JICA to export roasted brand Ethiopian coffee.
