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

ecological or commercial environment. While much of global coffee production consists of
mainstream type coffees, there are many other coffees, often of limited availability, with
greatly varying taste characteristics that appeal to different groups of consumers, and which
sell at a premium over mainstream coffees. Simply put, where the producers or exporters of
such a coffee and such a group of consumers get together, a niche market is created
(ITC/UNCTAD/WTO, 2002). The licenses’ organization system changes within the August
2008 coffee proclamation amputated this specialty market from its suppliers, mainly out
growers.
Out growers owned akhrabies’ and exporters’ licenses, and processing plants
(pulperies/hulleries). They collected coffee from defined groups of producers working as
service cooperatives, even more rigorously, and then processed it. They brought this coffee to
auctions where they bought it to then export it. It was possible to buy coffee lots you
provided. By this way out growers ensured the specialty market, sometimes promoting it
through organic or fair trade strategies, which total amount reached 8,000 tonnes per year in
Ethiopia before the new coffee proclamation.
Before the 2008 coffee proclamation, one ex-out grower told me that he used to export
selected coffees to Intelligentsia (an important specialty market American company). He
didn’t own any plant but made contracts with 1 500 farmers representing 200 ha certified by
BCS Okö German organic certifying company. He shared 20% of his profits with farmers and
Intelligentsia 60%.
“Since the new coffee law has been applied you need to own coffee trees to export, at
least 30 ha” told me this ex-out grower. But to get the exporters’ license, now called
certificate of competence, you have to own (or rent) processing plants according to export
standards. That’s why the three competence certificates (producer, supplier and exporter) are
now needed to do export. Out growers who didn’t have any producer’s license had to stop and
to choose only one activity: supplier or exporter. Another solution was to invest in land, this
explaining the new investors’ boom. Even if the latter hasn’t been lead by specialty marketers
but by new coffee arrived (trip organizators, beer suppliers, etc… foreign investors and
especially Ethiopian diaspora investors). But the easiest and more adequate solution for out
growers was to create PLC considered as producing units allowed to export in which ones
farmers bring their coffee and ex-out growers their processing plants. Anyway the main
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