Ethiopia's coffee production is set to rise to an estimated 400,000 tonnes in 2005/06 (July/June) from 300,000 tonnes the previous season thanks to yields from new plantations, an official said.
However, coffee production for the next crop is expected to be lower than 400,000 tonnes due to drought which has affected coffee-growing areas in the south, Zwedi Giddy, the agriculture ministry's head of marketing, said.
"Ethiopia's annual coffee production increased to an estimated 400,000 tonnes (in 2005/06) because coffee plantations by investors and stumped coffee trees have boosted yields," Zwedi told Reuters in an interview.
She said the forecast was based on a recent tour of coffee regions in the south and west of Africa's biggest coffee grower.
"Peasant farmers who used to rip out coffee trees some years back due to poor international prices have now started treating their coffee trees with care because they are gaining more revenue through fair trade arrangements," she added.
Coffee is Ethiopia's main cash crop, accounting for over 60 percent of the Horn of Africa country's annual foreign currency earnings. Ethiopia has signed contract sales for 121,860 tonnes of coffee worth $296 million in the last eight months, Zwedi said.
Of the total, 64,055 tonnes worth $152 million has already been exported. The country's coffee export for the same period the previous year was 143,788 tonnes worth $268 million, she said. Zwedi said the country planned to export 183,000 tonnes and earn $427 million this year.
"The figure seems a bit ambitious, but we believe it is achievable because there is lots of coffee either at export warehouses or farms," she said.