Coffee Farmers Ethiopia, Ethiopian Coffee Farmers Full Of Beans As Barcodes Promise Better Business Global Development The Guardian

Even though ethiopia has improved practices and made important progress all along its coffee value chain its coffee farmers lag behind.

Coffee label design bottle. The women who work in the coffee warehouses can make as little as 20 per month. Coffee farmers often women that depend on the income that their land generates and are financially unable to bear the consequences of the changing climate. Bext360 as well as several other companies are using blockchain and ai technology to empower farmers through fair and immediate pay.

The commercialization of coffee in ethiopia picked up in the 1950s when the. At issue was starbucks use of ethiopias famed coffee brandsguji sidamo yirgacheffe and hararthat generate high margins for starbucks and cost consumers a premium yet generated very low prices to ethiopian farmers. Ethiopia has ideal climatic conditions for coffee production but low yields low export prices and value chain inefficiencies make it difficult for coffee farmers to earn a living wage.

Coffee growing in ethiopia has been negatively 20 influenced by climate change present day suitability for coffee growing in ethiopia 20 feedback from coffee farmers and direct observation 21 climate change will continue to impact 24 and alter coffee growing in ethiopia over the coming decades climate change modelling for coffee production 24. Coffee is a key commodity in ethiopia and supports over one million households and accounts for over 30 percent of annual exports although according to equalexchange annually the average ethiopian coffee farmer earns about 900 per year. Ethiopia and oxfam america urged starbucks to sign a licensing agreement with ethiopia to help boost prices paid to farmers.

Ethiopia farmers are facing challenges including increasingly erratic rainfall rising temperatures poor management of coffee trees fluctuation of coffee prices and degradation of soil that are adversely affecting their income opportunities the countrys coffee production. These 20 million workers only see about 15 percent of the profits from the purchase of a bag of beans. He also spoke of the challenges his community was facing including the lack of access to markets and the difficulty getting fair prices for their coffee.

Improved coffee plant varieties remain out of reach for too many farmers the adoption of better processing techniques has been slow and the rising potential for disease and weather shocks due to climate change is leaving farmers increasingly vulnerable. Nearly 95 percent of the coffee produced in ethiopia is grown on small scale rainfed farms. The coffee that farmers in the country cultivate today can be split into four categories.

Plantation coffee garden coffee semi forest coffee and forest coffee. In this project nearly 20000 households are benefitting from a more efficient cookstove the tikikil for general use and a mirt for a flat round bread made of teff flour injera to bake. The total land area covered by arabica plants and other varieties is approximately 400000 hectares.