Marketing Supply Chain Channels of Primary Coffee Co-Operatives in Ethiopia, East African Region-Empirical Study

Abstract

Ethiopia is located in East African Region and endowed with agricultural resources due to its geo-agro location. It follows that Kaffa area is the origin of coffee in Ethiopia and the inhabitants of Kaffa are believed to have discovered the value of coffee as a stimulating beverage. The major coffee producing areas in Ethiopia are Kaffa, Illubabor, Wellega, Sidamo, Yirgacheffe and Hararghe. According to the coffee map, the country‟s 55% coffee coverage is classified as forest and semi-forest coffee, 40% as garden coffee, and 5% as plantation coffee (Abera, 2005). Ethiopian coffee production shows an increasing trend, where the average share of Ethiopian coffee in the world market was 4.4% during the period 1982-2001 (Dejene and Tefere, 2002). Similarly, the volume of coffee export had increased from 69,999 metric ton (MT) in 1985/86, to 161,100 MT in 2004-2005 (NBE, 2004).