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

The akhrabie type could be characterized as follows: Dealing coffee in two ways
which are processing washed coffee buying red cherries to farmers or buying dried coffee to
those 72 . In the latter situation, he will dry it again on mesh wire during one or two days before
submitting coffee to huller; working with about ten sebsabies, illegal and not employees, he
orients on quality: that means full ripened and correctly dried coffee, both characterized by a
bright appearance; owning or renting means as a pulpery, hullery and trucks (Isuzu and Iveco)
to collect coffee or send it to Addis Abeba; paying three different taxes: the income tax (1,000
birr per 150 coffee bags in June 2009), the annual government tax which reaches 30% of total
transaction paid after trading time on a grade classification 73
, and 0.2 % of transaction value
paid to the ECX; actually selling his coffee to the ECX at Limu-2 and Jima-4/5 grades for
washed and unwashed processed coffees respectively.
But all akhrabies are not acting as simple coffee suppliers. A lesser part of them are
more vertically integrated. As an example, the akhrabie whose huller is rent by the Limu
Inara Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative Union trades coffee in two ways: as a simple coffee
supplier even if his higher means allow him to cover a bigger area, he sells washed Limu-2
and unwashed Jima-4/5 to the ECX; directly exporting coffee produced in its own farm (105
ha) since 2009 under the arbitrary name “Limu Special 3” to an Addis Abeba agent of
Travoca foreign importer. This coffee passes through the ECX arrival coffee laboratory, is
stocked in his own warehouse, then processed in the rented ECX Bülher machine, passes
through the MoARD export coffee CLU before getting sold to the agent (Genet akhrabie, 25 th
August 2009).
Some akhrabies are just coffee suppliers whereas others are both producers and
exporters, the first using the main coffee supply channel whereas the last uses both the main
and the third supply channels 74
. The current trend for akhrabies is to invest in coffee
plantations, then to export coffee since it has recently become possible.
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Farmers were paid between 8.8 and 11.2 birr per kg by akhrabies in June 2009 for dried coffee, and 3 to 4.5
birr per kg for red cherries. Then coffee was sold by akhrabies to the ECX at prices varying between 17.6 and
23.5 birr per kg for sun dried coffee and between 20.6 and 26.5 birr per kg for washed coffee at the same period
(Genet’s akhrabie, 3 rd July 2009). The latter mentioned akhrabie sold 1,500 to 2,000 sun dried coffee 85 kg-bags
and 1,000 washed coffee 60 kg-bags to the ECX he brought renting an IVECO paid 7,000 birr per trip, and
needed 17 trips to bring all its 2001 EC processed coffee.
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Refer 1.2) Quality seen by the value chain actors.
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Refer 6.1) Presentation of the value chain.
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