The Coffee Industry In Ethiopia

Introduction

Ethiopia is the origin of Arabica coffee and the 5th largest coffee producing country in the world (ICO, 2013). Coffee is Ethiopia’s most important export crop contributing 24 % of the country’s foreign currency income (Minten et al., 2014).

An estimated 30% of Ethiopia’s coffee production originates from forest coffee cultivation systems, contributing about 10 to 20% of the country’s total export earnings. Coffee has the advantage that it originates from an organic and shaded production area – a quality increasingly important for coffee drinkers worldwide. The montane rainforests in Southern Ethiopia are the only place in the world where coffee still grows wild in its natural habitat. For this reason, these areas require

Given that each certification program has different goals, uncertainty surrounds how each contributes to ecological and economic sustainability at the farm level (Ponte, 2004). Organic certifiers such as Certimex in Mexico encourage planting diverse plant species for shade, but do not define minimum criteria, and their technical assistants reportedly advise farmers to cut or prune trees to improve yields(Bacon 2005).As many studies states that coffee certification standards has impact on socioeconomic conditions and ecological conditions. But, more of the studies concerned with social and economical aspects. As studies reviewed by Blackman and Rivera (2011), indicated from eleven studies conducted by different researchers on social, economic, or environmental impacts of coffee certification, nine examined the socioeconomic effects and two the environmental effects of certification and they concluded coffee certification has significant benefit. On the other hand, twenty studies conducted on social, economic and environmental impacts of coffee certification do not provide compelling evidence whether it has significant benefit or

forest coffee, semi - forest coffee, garden coffee, and plantation coffee (Gole et al.,2000). Forest coffee is a wild coffee grown under the shade of natural forest trees and it does not have a defined owner. Semi-forest coffee farming is a system where farmers thin and select forest trees to let sufficient sunlight to the coffee trees and to provide adequate shade. A farmer who prunes and weeds the forest area once a year claims to be the owner of the semi-forest coffee (Senbeta and Denich,2006). Garden coffee normally found in the vicinity (near) of a farmer’s residence. It normally fertilized with organic material and usually inter-cropped with other crops. The government or private investors for export purposes plant Plantation coffee. Fertilizers and herbicides usually used in the coffee plantation farming system. Ethiopia Small-scale holdings equal to or greater than 95% of total coffee production(USAID,