Poor Farmer

Guna Enterprises is one of the "private" companies that are incorporated under EFFORT. The enterprise emerged as one of the major coffee exporters in the country immediately after the government enacted the new coffee law that routed the coffee trade to the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX). Click here and here and here to read about my comments on Guna and ECX's destructive roles in Ethiopia's private sector. This leaked cable sheds some light on EFFORT's business and the preferential treatments that it receives from the ruling party in Ethiopia: "Seeye [Chief Executive Officer of EFFORT from 1995 until his expulsion from the TPLF in 2001] argued confidently that the business community's perception that EFFORT's and similar EPRDF parties endowments' companies receive preferential access to limited credit and/or foreign exchange stocks, or treatment on government bids and contracts, customs clearance, and import/export license is certa...

Walta Information Centre November 5, 2011 Addis Ababa, November 5 (WIC) – The Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCE) announced that the 9th edition of the African Fine Coffee Conference and Exhibition will be held in Addis Ababa from 16 - 18 February 2012. The conference and exhibition will be held at the United Nations Conference Centre under the theme: “Ethiopia: The Legendary Land of Coffee. Where it all begun.” More than 1,000 participants, including coffee trader and coffee supplier companies from all over the world, are expected to take part at the exhibition. Trade Minister Abdurahman Sheik Ahmed said at an incident organized to officially declare the launch of the conference and exhibition here yesterday that the event would be a good opportunity for delegates to taste the many varieties that Ethiopia and other fine coffee producing countries have to offer. General Manager of Ethiopian Chapter with EAFCE, Abdullah Bagersh, on his part said...

Cameroon is one of the few African countries which grow both arabica and robusta coffee Xinhua News Agency via Coast Week November 5, 2011 Countryside near Ngaoundal in Cameroon’s Adamawa Province.  Photo: Coast Week/Wikipedia YAOUNDE (Xinhua) -- There has been a significant decline in Cameroon coffee exports in 2010/11 compared to the previous season, with arabica coffee - whose season has already ended - falling by 25 per cent and that of robusta coffee by 31 per cent during the first 10 months, according to official statistics from the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB) on Tuesday evening. Cameroon is one of the few African countries that grows both arabica and robusta coffee. Arabica coffee is grown only in the high plateau regions of the West and North-West, where it is the main source of income and livelihood, while robusta coffee is cultivated in the West, South-West, Littoral, Center, South, East and Adamawa regions. The arabica coff...