Ethiopia
The European Union has invested €15 million ($16.6 million) to support efforts to improve Ethiopia’s competitive in the coffee sector.
The money would be used to improve coffee productivity, according to published reports. It also would help to export value-added coffee from the nation’s 28 coffee growing districts.
Ethiopia is expected to export a record-high 240,000 metric tons of coffee in 2019/20, a United States Department of Agriculture official said. Yields are reportedly slightly higher than those of Kenya and Rwanda, but lower than Uganda’s. Ethiopian farmers, meanwhile, receive a smaller share of export prices compared to most other countries.
The nation has improved practices and made gains along its coffee value chain, but coffee farmers continue to need support, experts say. Farmers need access to better plant varieties and improved practices to deal with disease and climate change, and the adoption of better processing techniques.