Ethiopian drought
cuts coffee crop

Prices have crashed
due to a global
oversupply
Drought could see
Ethiopian coffee
production could fall
by 30%, undermining
the country's main
cash crop on which
almost 15 million
people depend.
"In coffee producing
areas in western,
southwestern and
eastern parts of the
country, the coffee
harvest is estimated
to have declined by
30% in 2002/03 due
to drought," the US
Famine Early
Warning System
Network (Fewsnet)
said.

Ethiopia consumes
half the coffee it
produces

The report follows
estimates by a leading
Ethiopian academic
showing the country
has lost $300m in
export revenues over
the last two years
because of a
international slump in
coffee prices.
Ethiopia normally
produces about
300,000 tonnes of
coffee, about half of
which is consumed
domestically.
As Africa's third
largest coffee
exporter behind Ivory
Coast and Uganda,
Ethiopia had raised its
coffee exports by
14% in the year
ending June 2002 to
129,095 tonnes
worth $184.1m.
The United Nations
last month warned
that more than 11
million Ethiopians
faced food shortages
and possible
starvation because of
the drought and poor
harvests.
Low prices
At the First
International
Conference on the
Ethiopian Economy in
Addis Ababa on
Monday, Dr Dejene
Aredo from the
Department of
Economics, Addis
Ababa University,
said in 2002 alone
Ethiopia's coffee
income fell by $110m.

Sorting the newly
picked beans

"As a result the
incomes of up to 15
million Ethiopian
coffee farmers, which
have already suffered
as world prices of
coffee tumbled to
their lowest this year,
will be adversely
affected further,"
Fewsnet said in a
report.
The Addis Ababa's
Coffee Auction sold
235 tonnes of coffee,
including the country's
premium Gedeo and
Borena types, last
week due to the low
prices, according to
the country's coffee
authority.
Fewsnet also warned
of severe shortages of
cereal and fodder due
to the drought, and
that prices had risen
dramatically.