Poor Farmer

Moshi Hosts Africa's First Coffee Conference By Peter Temba Tanzania Daily News August 30, 2010 Dar Es Salaam — The first international conference to be held in the African continent under the banner of 'Let's Talk Coffee' was opened here on Monday with a call to a wide spectrum of stakeholders to promote the coffee industry to create security for future generations. Officiating at the opening of the three-day event in Moshi, Moshi District Commissioner, Mr Musa Samizi said the coffee industry in East Africa had great potential which needed to be exploited to boost economic development. However, he cautioned about 120 conference participants that coffee producers in the region were faced with a number of challenges that include transparency of the supply chain, young people moving away from the farm and acceptable production techniques. Mr Samizi said such challenges could be overcome through education and support, adding, "With conferences like ...

Note: The new coffee law in Ethiopia requires that all coffee trade be conducted through the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) but cooperatives and large-scale commercial farms are exempt from this requirement. The latter are allowed to bypass the ECX system, which was originally designed for the trading of grains and pulses before the government turned it into a coffee auction. The Oromia Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union (OCFCU) is one of the entities that is currently enjoying the benefits of Direct Trade - a business model that enables producers to transact with and sell their produce to the ultimate buyers across the globe. There are plenty evidences that Direct Trade, which is the norm in Specialty coffee trade, is a preferred business model in terms of ensuring the sustainability of coffee production, farming communities' livelihood, and the environment, but millions of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia are kept out of this model as they are legally barred from doing bu...