A study case on coffee (Coffea arabica): Limu Coffe - IRD

English Amharic Oromic
Home garden Yeguaro atikilt Midhaan mana boroo
Semi-forest Kafiil chakaa Baddaamakaa
Forest Chakaa Baddaa
Table: Phonetic translations of the different coffee production systems
However, the terms kafiil chakaa and baddaamakaa are not used. At woreda level, the
distinction is made only between home garden and forest. The third actors recognized are the
modern state farms: Suntu state farm, Kossa state farm, Gumer state farm, Cheleleki state
farm in Limu’s woredas for example. The many modern coffee plantations met in the region
are a specificity of Limu, Teppi and Bebeka places. Therefore the term garden isn’t so used. It
seems to be obvious. Indeed just forest is used to precise a remote location where people are
not obviously growing coffee. That is why a precision is here welcome. Moreover, peasants
use the world baggaajjaa to mean forest coffee, whereas it should just refer to the age of
trees, improved or not improved varieties. This means old. Confusion indeed exists and
associates forest coffee trees with baggaajjaa which meaning given by farmers is local variety
and consequently wild coffee. The problem is that local varieties are not only wild coffees; it
could be, in absence of written sources, varieties introduced by the past like Malo or Orome.
Baggaajjaa means wild coffee. This confusion is even spread by local and regional
agricultural offices. We can say that vocabularies coexist, between agricultural research
centers and peasants & agricultural ministry offices. The latter is the most influencing foreign
journalists’ vocabulary. To sum up, roughly speaking:
- Coffee genotype variability and primary forest: forest > semi-forest > garden;
- Cultural practices and human interferences: forest < semi-forest < garden < modern
plantations.
The repartition of coffee production systems is estimated (Urich, 2005):
- Forest: 10%;
- Semi-forest: 35%;
- Garden: 50%;
- Plantation: 5%.
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