Addis Ababa - 

Coffee or coffee is one of the most important sources of income in the Ethiopian economy, which depends on agriculture;

About 20 million of the total population of Ethiopia, which is estimated at 115 million, are employed in coffee cultivation, according to unofficial statistics.

Ethiopia is the first in Africa in coffee production. The country has achieved great successes, recording high production rates and unprecedented records in terms of volume and revenues, despite political, economic and environmental challenges, including the US decision related to the “Act of Growth and Opportunity” in Africa known for its acronym “AGWA.” (AGOA).

And the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (governmental) announced that the country obtained 1.4 billion dollars from the export of 300,000 tons of coffee in 2021, an increase of about 500 million dollars over last year.

The authority indicated that Ethiopia produced 652,000 tons of coffee, a performance rate of 92% of the pre-established plan, an increase of 21% or 48 thousand tons compared to last year's exports.

The Director-General of the authority, Adonia Debla, said in a press conference that Ethiopia has owned a coffee brand that it did not own before, which enabled the country to sell its own coffee, and avoid mixing and selling it with other types of coffee in the Asian market.

Ethiopian coffee plantations (the island)

He pointed out that Ethiopia has set an unprecedented record in terms of volume and revenue since it began exporting coffee to the global market, with an increase of more than 20.54% in volume and 53.8% in revenue, respectively compared to the last fiscal year.

Esther Mengeisha, president of the "Aster" company for the preparation and packaging of Ethiopian coffee, believes that coffee is the backbone of the Ethiopian economy, and it is like crude oil in some countries, and is considered one of the permanent wealth throughout the ages.

Mengisha explained to Al Jazeera Net that her company has been working in the field of coffee preparation and processing for 20 years, and that the percentage of Ethiopian participation in the coffee industry - from farming to roasting and exporting - is 85% of workers in this sector.

success reasons

The Ethiopian official attributed the rise in Ethiopian coffee exports to the global rise in commodity prices, in addition to the emergence of new export markets, most notably China, and the measures taken to facilitate granting loans to coffee exporters and suppliers, as well as modernizing logistics services, and recording the encouraging performance of foreign trade.

The official added that the promotional activities - which took place in various international trade fairs - and the opening of new markets contributed greatly to the recorded success of Ethiopian coffee in the recent period, noting that Germany is the largest buyer of Ethiopian coffee, followed by the United States and Saudi Arabia.

The success of Ethiopian coffee comes in the context of the country’s successes within the macroeconomic domain, and the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed praised the improvement of the macroeconomic performance in terms of higher FDI inflows, lower inflation in the past two months, the green footprint initiative, volunteer activities and an increase in remittances and existing activity. on technology.

Ethiopian coffee after harvest (Al Jazeera)

Multiple challenges

But the successes of Ethiopian coffee this year were also faced with administrative, security, political and environmental difficulties and challenges, such as US sanctions and climate change, as scientific reports indicate that the cultivation of coffee and cocoa faces many challenges that may make them rare crops within the next 20 years.

According to those interested in agriculture and agricultural crops in the region and those working in the field of importing and supplying coffee, the biggest challenges are the difficulty of granting loans and poor promotion, in addition to the challenges of logistical services and the absence of modernization at the production level. faced by farmers.

The CEO of Dorman Trading Company, Harthy Abdi, said that Ethiopia's high profits in exporting coffee this year could have been more if the government had made more effort in cultivation and collection.

In his speech to Al Jazeera Net, Abdi attributed the profits made by Ethiopia to the advantages of high-value sales in addition to the spread of drought that affected the "Arabica" regions in Brazil, and said that the high demand for foreign exchange among importers creates high pressures to drive sales.

He pointed out that the challenge lies in the weak activity of the commodity exchange in trading coffee, which gave an opportunity for brokers to obtain unfair privileges, as he put it.

The CEO of "Durman" Trading Company indicated that addressing these challenges is to establish the appropriate stock exchange for commodities that can provide quality assurance and payment confirmation, and to work on modern framing and motivate exporters to make value-added products.

Despite the multiple challenges that the Ethiopian economy faced over the past years, the Ethiopian government's ten-year plan and its vision for the agricultural sector enabled it to achieve unprecedented success in coffee.

Ethiopian coffee before harvest (Al Jazeera)

Challenges

Perhaps the climate change that the world is facing has helped reduce the areas of arable land in Ethiopia, and coffee cultivation was not far from this effect, especially in the absence of modern agriculture by irrigation in a country where agriculture depends on seasonal rains, in light of previous global reports that expect global warming to cause The area of ​​land suitable for growing coffee will be halved by 2050.

The specter of famine looms over regions in East African countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, amid warnings from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in East African Countries (IGAD).

According to the agency's Climate Applications and Prediction Center, the first month of the 2022 agricultural season (which runs from March to May) was particularly dry, and the region recorded temperatures above average precipitation.

Last year's rains in Ethiopia were low and below normal, in a country whose economy is based on agriculture, which contributes to more than half of the GDP, 60% of exports, and includes 80% of the country's total employment rate.

Among the challenges faced by the Ethiopian economy early last year, the US decision to end the concessions granted to 3 sub-Saharan African countries - including Ethiopia - according to the AGOA law as of January 1, 2022.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act - known simply as AGOA - is a US trade law enacted on May 18, 2000, to enhance the access of sub-Saharan African countries to US markets.

Ethiopia called the decision at the time "misleading and fails to take into account the US government's obligation to assess the well-being of ordinary citizens," and argued that the decision would also affect "the livelihoods of more than 200,000 low-income families."