Ethiopia—Technical Assistance to Support EU-Coffee Action for Ethiopia (EU-CAFE)

The Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA) has been implementing various coffee production, processing, and marketing activities to enhance the sustainability of the national economy and improve the wellbeing of smallholder farmers, including women and youth. Low production levels, poor quality, and a lack of marketing are some of the challenges depressing returns to farmers and reducing foreign exchange earnings accruing to the country from the coffee sector.

In response to these challenges, ECTA proposed and signed a financial agreement with European Union-Coffee Action for Ethiopia (EU-CAFE). EU-CAFE works to sustainably improve farmers’ access to inputs including coffee seed and seedlings, appropriate coffee production techniques, and extension and advisory services. It also builds the capacity of farmers through Farmer Field Schools and assists smallholder coffee producers, processors, traders, and their organizations to improve their productivity and quality—with a focus on specialty coffees, traceability, value chain development, and trade transparency through public-private partnerships and dialogue platforms.

Sample Activities

• Increase workers’ skills to enhance productivity, quality, and processing based on best practices.
• Improve smallholder farmers’ access to inputs.
• Expand availability of processing and grading capabilities in order to market higher-quality coffees, and increase access to broad-based market information to all coffee farmers.
• Integrate innovative solutions and technologies from coffee research with the extension system to contribute to higher yields and higher quality of Ethiopian coffees.
• Establish public and private stakeholders’ coordination and dialogue platforms and ensure their functioning.
• Strengthen federal and regional coffee authorities’ planning and management capacities.