Positive Change is Brewing

Coffee growing provides a vital livelihood for many farmers in the Amaro district of Southern Ethiopia. SCIAF’s partners, Agri-Service Ethiopia (ASE) offer training to coffee farmers in the area to help them improve the quality of their crop. We report from the office in Addis Ababa which we share with CAFOD and Trocaire.

For any consumer of coffee, the drive through the beautiful mountainous region of Amaro in southern Ethiopia is a thought provoking one. Ethiopia is celebrated worldwide as the birthplace of the exceptional Arabica coffee, and the farmers here certainly work hard growing and harvesting the crop for international markets. But the harsh realities of the lives of coffee growers in this part of Ethiopia can sometimes seem divorced from the comfortable surroundings of the major coffeehouse chains in Scotland where we enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Yet, it is this prospect of appealing to ever more sophisticated international palates that stimulates hope for the coffee farming industry in Amaro which provides a vital livelihood for many families. SCIAF’s partner Agri-Service Ethiopia (ASE) offered farmers training to further improve the quality of their coffee and help increase their income.

To test the effectiveness of the training, provide farmers with an incentive to put their learning into practice, and explore marketing opportunities for the coffee, ASE organised a coffee competition – the first of its kind in Ethiopia. Competition for the 2000 birr prize (around £105) was fierce.

Ayelech Afro, whose coffee was ranked first in the competition, raises seven children on the income she generates from coffee farming. She changed her post harvesting techniques after the training programme and can barely believe the outcome.

She said: “At first I was in doubt that I’d even get in the rank, never mind win the first prize from the whole wereda (district), but now I am so happy.”

Ayelech plans to use her 2000 birr prize to help her two eldest sons open a small shop, and vows to continue using the post-harvest handling techniques she learned.

Teklu, an expert from Addis based coffee exporters IPS believes that coffee quality is crucial for farmers hoping to export.

He added: “If we don’t continue to improve the quality of Ethiopian coffee, its price will get lower and lower. One of the best ways for farmers to compete in the world market at the moment is to produce speciality coffees as they are less affected by fluctuating prices.”

Some 350 farmers participated in ASE’s training, and learned about the importance of careful post harvest handling techniques to ensure the highest possible quality of coffee. 150 farmers entered the competition and 51 samples made it through to the final round. The shortlisted coffees underwent a rigorous assessment process which included a physical examination of the ‘cherry’ before the bean is hauled from its outer shell, and of the green bean before it is roasted.

Witnessing the coffee ‘cupping’ where a sample of each competitors green coffee beans are roasted, ground, and then prepared for tasting, is fascinating. To ensure transparency it was important for each of the competitors to watch the procedure. The judges inhaled the coffee’s aroma before noisily slurping, savouring, and spitting out each sample.

The entries were twice ‘cupped’ for tasting, once in Addis by international coffee experts Surendra Kotecha and Genevieve Kappler, and finally in Amaro itself by Ethiopian expert Desse Nure and his colleagues from the Ministry of Agriculture coffee quality board. The scores were then totted up to reveal the winner.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Desse Nure said: “As we saw in our coffee tasting, improving elements of picking, drying and storage significantly influence the taste and quality of the coffee.”