Poor Farmer

Wondwossen's Note : This report doesn't provide details as to what percent of the said amount would be invested in coffee vs. oranges. If this plan is executed as publicized, which is very doubtful given the investor's past records, it may have an impact on the livelihood of smallholder coffee farmers, particularly if the company resorts to selling coffee beans to domestic markets which often fetch higher prices than export markets. This too needs to be scrutinized. I will try to provide soon a few details and insight into what this plan means, if anything, to the troubled coffee sector. -------- By William Davison Bloomberg September 21, 2014 Horizon Plantations Ethiopia Plc, majority-owned by Saudi billionaire Mohamed al-Amoudi, plans to almost double annual revenue within three years by investing at least $500 million in coffee and orange projects. The agriculture company will train workers, improve roads and replace washing units at the Limmu ...

Meet the genes in the beans of your coffee By Geoffrey Mohan LA Times September 4, 2014 Wake up and smell the genome. Researchers have pieced together the genetic atlas of the parent of the most commonly cultivated species of coffee plant and uncovered a rather independent streak in its evolution. Coffee developed its caffeine-generating capacity independently from its cousin, cacao, according to the first whole genome study of the plant behind the brew quaffed every morning by about 100 million Americans, published online Thursday in the journal Science. There’s been a lot of genetic sleuthing on coffee, most of it far from the tree. We have a good idea about how caffeine affects animal (particularly human) genes and alters brain chemistry. We know which of our own genes seem to draw us toward consuming coffee, tea or chocolate as well. And there’s also been a heady, if somewhat contradictory, brew of studies purporting to demonstrate caffeine’s benefic...