Poor Farmer

For status of the Starbucks-Ethiopia deal, click here CSRwire May 14, 2007 WASHINGTON DC - The Ethiopian fine coffee sector this week welcomes 2007 EcoQ Peaberry Award Recipient Sweetwater Organic Coffee Company , Florida's vanguard Organic and Fair Trade Coffee Roaster, as the newest licensee to join the recently formed Ethiopian network of licensed distributors. "Sweetwater Organic is a company whose practices embody the sprit of collaboration and sustainable coffee development that Ethiopia's Trademarking and Licensing Initiative is really about. We are very happy to have them join in our network and contribute at this important and historic time. It is important to have roasters on board that pay attention and appreciate the flavor and quality of the fine coffees that Ethiopia produces," commented Getachew Mengistie, Director General of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office. The network of licensed distributors is a pioneering group of coffee companies who ...

It’s been 12 days since Starbucks and Ethiopia issued a joint statement saying that they have agreed in principle to sign a licensing, distribution and marketing agreement that recognizes the importance and integrity of Ethiopia’s specialty coffee names. After several months of uphill battle by development agencies, activists and supporters of Ethiopia's plan to trademark its marks, Starbucks has acknowledged a week ago Ethiopia’s ownership of its own coffee marks. “Ethiopia is recognized as the historic birthplace of coffee and the source of some of the finest coffee in the world,” said Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, on the press release. Negotiations have continued through last week between representatives of Ethiopia, currently in Washington D.C., and Starbucks officials. Details of the negotiations are not made public to date. The parties are expected to meet here in Seattle this week, reportedly as early as Wednesday, May 16th, for a signing ceremony. Starbucks has reaso...

This is the 5th and final part of the series that has been running for over four weeks. The series assesses Ethiopia’s coffee sector to understand the root causes of its problems and to point out remedial solutions based on the scholarly paper, “ Ethiopia’s Coffee Sector: A Bitter or Better Future?” by Nicolas Petit . In Part IV , we’ve discussed domestic coffee market reforms, constraints, and their impacts on the coffee sector. We’ve also discussed prospects for Ethiopia’s coffee. This current part points out what is being done and what can – and should – be done in order to revitalize the coffee sector in Ethiopia. My heartfelt thanks goes to my dearest friend who brought the paper to my attention. I am equally grateful of the generosity of Nicolas Petit and Blackwell Publishing Ltd for granting me access and permission to use the paper according to their terms of use. ----------------------- So, What Can Be Done? In Ethiopia, coffee is more important to the farmers than it is for...