Schuit Pascale, Moat Justin, Gole Tadesse Woldemariam, Challa Zeleke Kebebew, Torz Jeremy, Macatonia Steven, Cruz Graciano, Davis Aaron P
Union Hand-Roasted Coffee, London, UK.
Biodiversity Informatics and Spatial Analysis, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK.
PeerJ. 2021 Feb 9;9:e10621. doi: 10.7717/peerj.10621. eCollection 2021.
The specialty coffee sector represents opportunities for coffee farmers and other actors due to increased value within the supply chain, driven by elevated consumer purchase prices. We investigated these relationships up to the export stage, as well as the potential for specialty coffee to improve stakeholder participation in biodiversity conservation. Household data was collected from a sample of 272 coffee farmers belonging to five primary cooperatives, in the heavily forested area of Yayu, in the Illubabor administrative zone of Oromia regional state in south-western Ethiopia, for the 2017/2018 harvest season. Qualitative and quantitative data, gathered between 2015 and 2019, from focus group discussions, was used to supplement the survey and to explain the empirical findings. We show that the income from coffee (and thus household income) can be increased, in some cases substantially, via participation in the specialty coffee market. The unit price for coffee was much higher than standard market prices and those including certification premiums. Whilst quality is a key factor for specialty coffee, income increases via the specialty market are caveat bound. In particular, there is a critical requirement for efficient and effective cooperative management, and we provide suggestions for improvements. In the long-term, more focus is needed to increase the financial and human capacities of Ethiopian coffee cooperatives, to make them more effective partners in the specialty coffee value chain. The high conversion rates from harvested to clean exportable specialty coffee (8:1, or higher) is identified as a major constraint on profitability. We show that specialty coffee can bring about positive environmental benefits. Elevating coffee prices and farm profitability to bring household income levels to around or above the global poverty line may ensure the continuation of forest coffee production, and thus the retention of forest. The increases in income via specialty coffee production, reported in the study, were achieved without increasing land use or the application of environmentally costly inputs. Moreover, analysis of satellite data shows that a large proportion of the coffee farms surveyed retain a level of forest cover and quality approaching primary (undisturbed) forest, and that the coffee production area at Yayu has not experienced any significant deforestation (since 2000). We recommend that coffee premiums linked to environmental benefit should demonstrate clearly defined and appropriate metrics, as we have demonstrated here for forest (canopy) quality and coverage (area).
由于消费者购买价格提高推动供应链价值增加，精品咖啡行业为咖啡种植者和其他参与者带来了机遇。我们调查了直至出口阶段的这些关系，以及精品咖啡改善利益相关者参与生物多样性保护的潜力。在埃塞俄比亚西南部奥罗米亚州伊鲁巴博尔行政区森林茂密的亚尤地区，从属于五个主要合作社的272名咖啡种植者样本中收集了家庭数据，数据收集时间为2017/2018收获季节。2015年至2019年期间从焦点小组讨论中收集的定性和定量数据用于补充调查并解释实证结果。我们表明，通过参与精品咖啡市场，咖啡收入（进而家庭收入）在某些情况下可以大幅增加。咖啡的单价远高于标准市场价格以及包括认证溢价在内的价格。虽然质量是精品咖啡的关键因素，但通过精品市场增加收入存在一定条件限制。特别是，高效有效的合作社管理至关重要，我们提供了改进建议。从长远来看，需要更加注重提高埃塞俄比亚咖啡合作社的财务和人力能力，使其成为精品咖啡价值链中更有效的合作伙伴。从收获到可清洁出口的精品咖啡的高转化率（8:1或更高）被确定为盈利能力的主要制约因素。我们表明，精品咖啡可以带来积极的环境效益。提高咖啡价格和农场盈利能力，使家庭收入水平达到或高于全球贫困线，可能确保森林咖啡生产的持续进行，从而保护森林。该研究报告称，通过精品咖啡生产增加收入是在不增加土地使用或不使用环境成本高昂的投入的情况下实现的。此外，卫星数据分析表明，接受调查的大部分咖啡农场保留了接近原始（未受干扰）森林的森林覆盖水平和质量，并且亚尤的咖啡生产区自2000年以来没有经历任何重大森林砍伐。我们建议，与环境效益相关的咖啡溢价应展示明确界定且适当的指标，就像我们在此为森林（树冠）质量和覆盖范围（面积）所展示的那样。
