Marketing Bale’s wild coffee

Ethiopia’s heirloom coffee varieties have the potential to command high prices on the global speciality coffee market, but very few farmers have been able to realise this potential. This project helped wild coffee farmers in Ethiopia’s Bale Eco-region develop production, processing and trading systems that enabled them to sell to speciality coffee markets.

Farm Africa aimed to create a ‘win-win’ situation whereby coffee farmers have a sustained economic incentive to protect the forests. We delivered training in coffee processing and post-harvest handling to help farmers meet market standards. Strengthening the cooperatives and forest management committees’ processes and management skills enabled them to build effective relationships with their buyers and other supply chain actors.

Also, we set up community-led systems which collected environmental data and allowed farmers to capitalise on the coffee’s eco-friendly credentials.

This project was supported by Conservation International and the Global Environment Facility through the Conservation Agreements Private Partnership Platform (CAPPP), which seeks to help conserve biodiversity while improving the quality of life for local communities.