Coffee
Ethiopia produces one of the best highland coffee in the world. The country, known to be original home of coffee Arabica, mainly produces sun-dried unwashed coffee types known in the world market for their flavor, good body, acidity and diversity of taste.
There is no reliable estimate of coffee crop area, yields, total output and domestic consumption. According to the estimates of World Bank (1987), Ethiopia produces about 140,000 tons of coffee in a bad year and up to 180,000 tons in an exceptionally good year; production in a normal year would be about 160,000 ton. The total area under planted coffee is estimated about 450 thousand hectares with additional 150 thousand hectares under wild coffee in natural forests which are only partially exploited. Roughly 50 per cent of the total output is consumed domestically, and the balance is exported.
Coffee grows in almost all regions of Ethiopia, but more than 80 per cent of the marketable production comes from what is known as forest coffee, mostly from the regions of Keffa, Wellega, Gamo Gofa, Sidamo and Illubabor zones. The rest comes from coffee gardens found in Shoa and Hararge. Over 95 per cent is produced by private peasants and the rest by state farms. Ethiopia exported 88,405 MT of coffee in 1980/81. The volume increased to 91,179 MT in 1983-84 .
