Opportunities and Constraints of Coffee Production in West Hararghe, Ethiopia
Opportunities and Constraints of Coffee Production in West Hararghe, Ethiopia
Opportunities and Constraints of Coffee Production in West Hararghe, Ethiopia
JAERD
Research Article
Oromia Agricultural Research Institute (OARI), Mechara Agricultural Research Center P.O. Box 19 Mechara,
Ethiopia.
Assessing factors influencing coffee production and productivity was used to develop
appropriate technology for improvement and inform policy makers to understand gap
concerning the commodity. Therefore, this study was designed to assess constraints and
opportunities of coffee production in West Hararghe Zone. It employed multi-stage sampling
procedure. In the first stage, Daro Lebu, Habro and Boke districts were selected purposively
based on coffee production potential from the zone. In the second stage, a total of seven
kebeles and 170 households were randomly selected. Household questionnaires were employed
to collect primary data and analyzed by using descriptive statistics. The study revealed
diseases, pest, poor access to market information, lack of physical infrastructure, lack of
improved coffee variety and weak extensions services were major constraints of coffee
production and productivity. On the other hand, high quality of Harar coffee, high demand of
Hararghe coffee on world market, construction of rural road, availability of mobile phone, good
indigenous knowledge were major opportunities for coffee producers in the area. Therefore,
findings of study indicated that development of disease resistance coffee variety, assessment
of farmers` indigenous knowledge, providing extension service and enhancing infrastructural
and institution facilities need emphasis to improve coffee production and productivity.
Key words: Coffee landrace, farmers` indigenous knowledge, coffee disease, market access.
INTRODUCTION
Coffee is the worlds most widely traded tropical product,
produced in over 50 developing countries. Even though
many species of coffee exist, for commercial production,
Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora took the principal
share and more than 60% of global coffee production is
based on C. Arabica (CAB International, 2006). Coffee
makes an important contribution to socio-economic
development and poverty alleviation and it has
exceptional importance to exporting countries, some of
which rely on coffee for over half of their export earnings.
About 25 million smallholder farmers and their families
produce 80% of world coffee production, that is an
important source of cash income and responsible for
significant employment (ICO, 2010).
In Africa Coffee is grown in many sub-Saharan countries
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054
METHODOLOGY
Description of the Study Areas
The study was conducted in three districts such as Daro
055
Table 1. Average land holding and land under coffee production in Hectare West Hararghe
zone, 2013
Variable
Average
landholding(Ha)
Land allocated for
coffee(Ha)
Daro Labu
Mean
SD
0.95
0.55
Boke
Mean
1.1
SD
0.81
Habro
Mean
0.75
SD
0.51
0.35
0.37
0.20
0.4
0.27
0.25
Table 2. Age and coffee production experience of households in West Hararghe Zone, 2013
Variable
Age in a year
Farm experience in
a year
Daro Labu
Mean
SD
40.16
14.29
18.02
12.5
Boke
Mean
40
17.58
SD
12.39
8.60
Habro
Mean
41.35
20.96
SD
14.66
10.93
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056
Daro Labu
freq
%
18
29.5
43
70.5
Boke
freq
15
42
%
26.3
73.7
Habro
freq
16
36
%
30.8
69.2
No.
1
2
3
4
5
Coffee landraces
Abadir
Shumbure
Buna Gurracha
Buna Kalla
Kubaniya
Frequency
38
80
26
12
8
Percentage
22.4
47.1
15.3
7.1
4.7
No.
1
2
3
4
Diseases name
Coffee Berry Disease (CBD)
Coffee Branch Dieback
Coffee Leaf Rust(CLR)
Coffee Wilt Disease (CWD)
Frequency
78
50
38
4
%
45.8
29.4
22.4
2.4
Table 6. Average land allocation for Coffee and Khat edulis in West Hararghe Zone, 2013
No.
1
2
Variables
Land allocated for Coffee(Ha)
Land allocated for Khat(Ha)
Mean SD
0.37 0.25
0.30 0.22
057
Table 7. Market place and selling time of coffee by farmers in West Hararghe Zone, 2013
Place of selling coffee
Village market
District market
Village and district market
Time of selling coffee
Immediately after harvest
Between 1-3 month after harvest
Between 3-6 month after harvest
>6 month after harvest
Frequency
114
34
22
%
67
20
13
98
36
30
6
57.6
21.2
17.6
3.5
Have access
Frequency
64
52
60
they did not have any alternative actors to whom they sell
their product in the area.
Smallholder coffee farmers in the study area have limited
access to market information, physical infrastructure
(road, storage facility and transport facilities) and training
opportunity
concerning
coffee
production
and
management. For instance, 57.6% of the respondents
didn`t have access to market in formation and similarly,
64.1% of them didn`t have access to road facility to sell
their product on market (Table 8).
There is no doubt that technological advances can play
an important role in increasing production and
productivity as well as contributing in other areas such as
quality improvement and plant protection(ICO,2002). This
study revealed that lack of improved variety is major
constraint which directly reduces coffee production and
productivity in the study area. Most households (>96.5%)
still cultivate coffee varieties, which they inherited from
their parents (local landraces). Inadequate supply of high
quality coffee seeds still remains a major barrier to
Ethiopia coffee growers, mainly due to the absence of a
formal coffee seed system in the country (Taye et.al.,
2011) which in line with the result of this study.
It is also important to note that extension service is
important factors determine production and productivity of
smallholder farmers. Empirical results revealed that
extension contact has an influence on farm households
adoption of techniques to improve production (Nkonya et
al., 1997). However, this study revealed that, poor of
extension service is one of the constraint that affect
coffee production and productivity. About 64.7% of coffee
farmers not have access to extension service concerning
coffee production and productivity while only 33.3%
reported that they have access to extension service
%
37.6
30.6
33.3
%
57.6
64.1
64.7
CONCLUSION
The finding of the study showed that average land
holding size of households were less than one hectare
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RECOMMENDATION
Based on the results of the finding, the following
recommendations were forwarded by the author to
improve coffee production and productivity in the study
area.
Most of coffee landraces grown by growers in the study
area were susptabile to different disease, pest and insect
problems. Because of this coffee growers forced to
change their coffee farm to `Khat`Edulis farm. Therefore,
research institutions have to give special emphasis for
development of environmentally friend and resistant
coffee variety for growers to keep coffee production
sustainability in the study area.
Coffee growers in the study area grow coffee for many
years with their own indigenous technical knowledge
which they inherited from their ground families.
Therefore, assessment of farmers` indigenous technical
knowledge on coffee production was required to improve
coffee production and productivity through integrating it
with scientific knowledge invented from research side.
To improve coffee production and productivity in the
study area, provision of extension services for producers
was important factors. However, weak extension service
concerning coffee production was reported as major
constraint by growers. So, government should provide
special services for growers to improve their skill and
knowledge on coffee production aspect and improve
livelihoods of households in the study area. Enhancing
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors greatly acknowledge district level agricultural
development office workers, development agents at each
kebeles. Our acknowledgement also goes to Mr. Abdi
Adem, Mr. Mohammedsani Amin, Mr. Abdi Itafa, Mr.
Mulugeta Mamo, Mr. Alemu Asefa and Mamush Bekele
for their kindly support during the data collection for the
study. We also give great respect for farmers of the study
area for forwarding information concerning the study
without any hesitation. Lastly not least, we thank Oromia
Agricultural Research Institute and Mechara Agricultural
Research Center for allocating budget and execution
resource for the study. The authors acknowledged the
contributions of Dr. Benigno Rodriguez Padrn, Thomaz
Fronzaglia, Stanislas Bigirimana, Ikani Daniel Idoko,
Flavia Bliska, Kiyingi Isaac, Dr. Asfaw Y. Demisse for
donating their time, critical evaluation, constructive
comments, and invaluable assistance toward the
improvement of this very manuscript.
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