Ethiopian Coffee delegates of EAFCA Conference back unsuccessfully
By Dereje Berhanu
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia –The five top Ethiopian specialty coffees tested during the Harvest Competition returned home unsuccessfully. The 7th East Africa Fine Coffees Association’s (EAFCA) Conference and Exhibition selected in a competition, the top coffee qualities coming from Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
The five Ethiopian specialty coffees which were exhibited in the EAFCA competition have been the coffee beans of Alaga Sakla from Gurent Andodo Jimma Zone, Ngusa Lema Coffee plantation, Camp from Elibabore Zone, Chefea Jenta Coffee Farmers Association and Iilkepinjo from Jimma Zone.
One of the participants of that conference, Mr. Ngusa Lema, told SSI: “In Mombassa our coffee doesn’t get a good rank. The organizers do not describe the high standard of our coffee.” 

The Ethiopian Coffee Exporters’ Association (ECEA), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), and the agriculture bureaus of Oromia and of South Ethiopia Peoples’ States participated in that coffee conference and exhibition program.

The exhibited EAFCA coffee sorts were produced in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The exhibition of the East Africa Fine Coffees Association creates a platform for exposure of these coffee types to international consumers, importers, traders and roasters.

Each country takes full responsibility for the country’s national coffee cupping competition with support and technical assistance from the EAFCA Secretariat. Those competition results are announced at a national level. At the end of the national competition the chosen coffee of each country is subsequently submitted for being proofed by an international panel at the annual African Fine Coffee Conference and Exhibition.