Ethiopia earns close to $900 million from coffee export in nine months
Addis Ababa, April 19, 2022 (FBC) – Director General of the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, Adugna Debela (PhD) said that a wide range of activities are underway to improve product and productivity of coffee in the country and increase amount of export to the international market.
Saying that Ethiopia is now in a better position to tap its immense coffee resources, Adugna noted that the Government devised a 15 year coffee strategy in 2019 to address bottlenecks, increase productivity and earn more currency from the sector.
The new strategy is contributing its part in addressing challenges in the sector such as low export prices, low export values, inefficiency in value chains.
He said that over the last three years, the country has witnessed significant progress in rate of productivity and export volumes.
To increase productivity, 400 ha of old trees have been replaced with new varieties that can resist climate change and withstand diseases. The new varieties are able to yield 2-3 times harvests compred to the old ones, he explained.
Farmers who are implementing new approaches are now getting 20 quintals of coffee per hectare, he said.
As per the strategy, the Authority has managed to remarkably decrease the unwanted value chains and improve the export volume, according to the Director General.
Last year, Ethiopian earned 907 million USD from the coffee export sector, a record high in the history, he noted.
This year, during the last nine months alone, Ethiopia has earned 894 million USD from the sector by exporting 210,000 tons of coffee to the international market surpassing the plan set to earn 600 million USD through export of 183, 000 tons of coffee, he said.