Bloomberg
Dry weather and a lack of research may hinder attempts to boost coffee output in East and Central Africa, where three of the continent’s four top producers are located, the Inter-African Coffee Organization said.
Insufficient rain across East Africa has curbed the development of crops, including coffee, with growers in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya now warning of lower production.
“It will have a long-term impact, in three, four years if it continues like this,” said Josefa Sacko, Secretary General of the Abidjan-based group, which represents 25 of the continent’s largest producing nations.
In Uganda, the continent’s second-biggest coffee producer, output could drop 2 percent this year, the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises said on Nov. 10.
Production in Tanzania, the fourth-largest grower, may fall 19 percent in the 12 months through June, Adolph Kumburu, director general of the Tanzania Coffee Board, said in June.
Kenya, meanwhile, was forced to reduce its weekly coffee sales to twice a month from early September because of low supplies.
African coffee growers need to be more productive, increasing output from the current average of between 200 kilograms (440 pounds) per hectare (2.5 acres) and 500 kilograms, said Sacko in an interview today in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. Africa lags other producers such as Brazil and Colombia where yields can average up to 2 metric tons per hectare, she said.
Africa is also behind in terms of research into coffee production, Sacko said. The organization has asked for $500,000 from the Amsterdam-based Common Fund for Commodities to boost research centers in Uganda and Ethiopia, she said.
The two centers have already received $72,500 from the Economic Community of West African States to fund research into the rehabilitation of depleted coffee plantations in Sierra Leone and Liberia. “They used to be very important producers, but because of the war, it’s gone,” Sacko said.
Ethiopia is the continent’s top coffee grower, followed by Uganda, the Ivory Coast and Tanzania.
Insufficient rain across East Africa has curbed the development of crops, including coffee, with growers in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya now warning of lower production.
“It will have a long-term impact, in three, four years if it continues like this,” said Josefa Sacko, Secretary General of the Abidjan-based group, which represents 25 of the continent’s largest producing nations.
In Uganda, the continent’s second-biggest coffee producer, output could drop 2 percent this year, the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises said on Nov. 10.
Production in Tanzania, the fourth-largest grower, may fall 19 percent in the 12 months through June, Adolph Kumburu, director general of the Tanzania Coffee Board, said in June.
Kenya, meanwhile, was forced to reduce its weekly coffee sales to twice a month from early September because of low supplies.
African coffee growers need to be more productive, increasing output from the current average of between 200 kilograms (440 pounds) per hectare (2.5 acres) and 500 kilograms, said Sacko in an interview today in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. Africa lags other producers such as Brazil and Colombia where yields can average up to 2 metric tons per hectare, she said.
Africa is also behind in terms of research into coffee production, Sacko said. The organization has asked for $500,000 from the Amsterdam-based Common Fund for Commodities to boost research centers in Uganda and Ethiopia, she said.
The two centers have already received $72,500 from the Economic Community of West African States to fund research into the rehabilitation of depleted coffee plantations in Sierra Leone and Liberia. “They used to be very important producers, but because of the war, it’s gone,” Sacko said.
Ethiopia is the continent’s top coffee grower, followed by Uganda, the Ivory Coast and Tanzania.
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