Africa's coffee on the boil

After declining due to weak prices and civil strife, coffee production is rising in Africa on higher prices and growing political stability in the region, officials said.

"Production has been going up. Rwanda's production has almost doubled, Malawi production is going up, in Zambia they are promoting small-holder farming," Robert Nsibirwa, outgoing head of the Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA), told Reuters.

"We think this momentum is now building. We think in the next two to five years we should see our production going up by at least 30-40%."

He did not give a figure for current production.

EAFCA's members include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe and Madagascar.

Trapped in poverty

Although prices have risen, farmers remain trapped in poverty because the increase is not sufficient to help them buy food, pay for schooling and healthcare and purchase farm inputs to boost crop husbandry, analysts say.

"The coffee crisis continues," Seth Petchers, the coffee programme manager at Oxfam America said in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where players in the specialty coffee market have been discussing ways of promoting the industry.

"All you have to do is go out and visit the farmer and you can see the conditions that they live in and then come to the US or go to Europe and see how much some of their best coffees are selling for in the retail market."

The debate over differences in coffee prices at the producer and consumer levels has generated heated discussions at the conference due to a row between Ethiopia and Starbucks over trademarking.

Ethiopia, Africa's biggest coffee producer and the birthplace of coffee, accuses Starbucks of blocking its efforts to trademark its Sidamo and Harar beans.

Starbucks said on Friday it would not oppose Ethiopia's trademarking moves but Oxfam's Petchers said the announcement did not go far enough.

"While it is useful that Starbucks has made that commitment, it still falls short of them acknowledging that Ethiopia owns these names," he said.

Africa attracting interest

The EAFCA coffee conference has attracted over 200 international buyers. Starbucks pledged to double its purchases from Africa while other top roasters Green Mountain, Sustainable Harvest and Neumann Group were represented.

"Everybody is coming to Africa. We think the future is bright," Nsibirwa said.

EAFCA held an open outcry auction for its top beans on Saturday, hoping to further raise exports of its specialty coffees, which have risen by an average of 25% in the past four years and earned $162m last season.

"For me the auction is the highlight of the conference," Namukolo Mukutu, a director of the Zambia coffee board said. "We are encouraging our coffee farmers to be able to cup, to taste their own coffee."