Dar es Salaam – Africa could become a powerhouse in coffee production – including ‘gourmet’ or specialty coffee – with potentially huge benefits to smallholder farmers, according to a taskforce of agricultural scientists meeting in Ethiopia last week.
Diverse environments and coffee types mean some African countries already have the potential to produce world-class coffee beans. But poor soil fertility and the presence of pests and diseases have left many farmers unable to match the yields and quality of coffees produced in Latin America and parts of Asia.As a result, African production currently accounts for less than 15 per cent of the world coffee supply, a paltry figure given the huge and highly lucrative global coffee market.“Africa has enormous untapped wealth in coffee production,” said Harrison Kalua, Board Chair of the African Fine Coffee Association (AFCA), at the 7thAfrican Coffee Scientific Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“But only a tiny proportion of coffee revenues have been invested in research, extension and infrastructure. The result has been blanket recommendations that fail to recognize Africa’s primary strength in coffee production – its diversity.”“The right combination of policies and practices could help to double production of both standard and specialty coffee varieties and boost profits, while helping to make coffee farming more sustainable and resilient to the effects of climate change,” he emphasized.“This really could put African coffee clearly on the map.
”While some countries like Ethiopia and Rwanda have placed coffee production high on their policy agendas, researchers like Piet van Asten of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) argued that precise, “site-specific” technologies will be crucial to transforming the sector. These in turn will require the strengthening and integration of research with agronomists, farmers, the coffee industry, and government bodies.“If these recommendations can be put into practice, smallholder coffee producers in Africa have a very bright future,” added van Asten.The “Leveraging scientific research for improved productivity and sustainability of African coffees”workshop was organized by AFCA, IITA, and CABI and brought together scientists from East Africa, IACO, CQI, and CIAT. It was held from 13 to 15 February as a run up to the main scientific workshop held from 16 to 18 February 2012.