WALTHAM COFFEE
Over five million people in East Africa are either coffee growers or work in the coffee sector; being the birthplace of coffee and the home to some of the world’s leading premium coffee-exporting countries, such as Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya.
To start with are the farm sizes; while farms in the other big coffee producing regions like Latin America and Asia can be extensive, in East African farms are often extremely small and, in some cases, they are just a few trees in a family’s garden.
The thousands of small farms are the reason why East African countries produce such characteristically diverse coffees with a striking range of aromas.
In general, the coffee journey from the farm to the processing firm is long, arduous, and often expensive, fraught with unexpected weather.
Moving away from the poor infrastructure; there is also a challenge of climate change. To start with, East Africa is one of the most suitable regions for coffee production not just on the continent but across the globe. Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and Madagascar make up over 80% of all African highlands
The East African highlands is a region sitting above 1,500 m; with moderate temperature of daily mean temperatures below 20°C/68°F; adequate rainfall and with fertile soils well-suited for agriculture.
Coffee processing requires workers at every stage of the process; however, the average age of a coffee producer is growing, and the numbers of them decreasing. Children from coffee-producing families, seeing the struggles their families face often choose to migrate to the cities to find better opportunities outside coffee production.
Investing in producers is quickly proving to be one of the most effective ways to ensure that coffee production remains alive and well. It is also an investment in quality.
