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4th international coffee conference wraps up in Ethiopia's capital

Xinhua, March 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

The 4th International Coffee Conference (ICC) hosted by Ethiopia has wrapped up on Tuesday in the country's capital city Addis Ababa, where more than 1,000 participants were gathered on March 6-8 to deliberate on the coffee sector.

The three-day event has given an opportunity for the participants, including local and international coffee producers, buyers, decision makers, private sector representatives and international agencies, to discuss issues related to the coffee sector including ways of promoting coffee production.

Speaking to the gathering on Monday, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia noted that the conference would provide platform to discuss ways of addressing challenges facing the coffee sector and ensuring coffee growers get fair financial gains.

"A fair distribution of the proceeds from coffee is not only a matter of improving the lives of coffee farmers and their families, but is also essential to maintaining sustainable supply of the highest quality coffee beans," said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister stated that rising temperature, decline in rainfall, increased resilience of pests and plant diseases all pose threat to the coffee industry.

He said that the 4th International Coffee Conference came amidst unprecedented economic, social, environmental and political framework.

Reborio Olivera Silva, ICC Executive Director, stated that poor infrastructure, low support, capacity limitation of coffee producers, and problems of coffee farming technology, among others are the major problems in the sector.

The Executive Director has called on African governments to support private investors to boost coffee production on the continent.

Silva also underlined that countries should focus on improving the quality and volume of coffee on the African continent.

Speaking on the occasion, Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, underlined that Africa's vulnerability to climate change and coffee price volatility should end.

Fruitful linkage and discussion between coffee producers, exporters, buyers, researchers and suppliers to the coffee industry was among the expected outcomes of the 4th International Coffee Conference.

Previous similar coffee conferences have been held in England in 2001, Brazil in 2005 and Guatemala in 2010. Endit