West African coffee

development

projects

location Togo and Gabon date July 2007 – November 2012 project team Charles Agwanda

going gourmet in Gabon and Togo

Both Gabon and Togo have a strong tradition of producing coffee.

Over 34,000 farming families in Togo grow the crop, producing up to 20,000 tons a year.

so what’s the problem?

The industry has been in decline for the past few years however. In Gabon, the country’s oil and mineral reserves have dominated the economy for the last 30 years, leaving the coffee industry struggling to compete for government support.

2000 to 2004 were tough years for coffee farmers. Global prices plummeted and scores of young people moved to urban areas in search of more promising livelihoods. The quality and productivity of coffee also dropped as low prices saw farmers make cutbacks on inputs such as fertilizer, or, as in Gabon, abandoned coffee production completely.

Thankfully, both governments are now investing in the coffee sector to boost the local economies and reverse the rural-urban exodus of the last few years. With rapidly emerging economies becoming significant markets, demand is again on the rise. With some basic guidance, farmers should be able to restore some stability to the coffee producing sector and improve their livelihoods.

what is this project doing?

With the support of in-country partners, and funding from the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), CABI is leading a project to revitalise Gabon and Togo’s coffee industries.

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

The initiative looks at the whole coffee growing and processing system; from the establishment of effective farms that have good seedlings and tools, and farmers with the right knowledge and skills to grow and process coffee, through to the rehabilitation of processing factories and the marketing of the resultant coffee. The project also aims to improve the production and quality of Robusta coffee to a level worthy of gourmet status – a market currently dominated by Arabica coffees.

The project intends to pilot the production of sundried and washed Robusta coffee whilst providing access to markets of the gourmet sectors in Europe, the USA and Japan. Smallholder farmers, and other stakeholders in the coffee industry, will be able to improve their incomes and the economies of Gabon and Togo will subsequently benefit from the foreign exchange earned through exports. To meet the demands of the gourmet market, Robusta will need to be produced as a large, top quality bean. And, with consumer concerns about fair trade, the coffee needs to be traceable to the farm that produced it. The project also aims to get 4C accreditation for the coffee – proof of high standards from the Common Code for the Coffee Community.

results so far In Togo, 500 farmers were selected to take part in the project and the team set up demonstration plots for their training. In Gabon, the area selected is currently being rehabilitated with the help of unsettled youths who have had social problems in the cities. We also trained extension workers and others to then train the farmers in all aspects of crop husbandry.

Seeds of improved varieties were also made available. In Togo, adequate quantities of seedlings for replanting dead and moribund trees, and for planting new fields, were propagated. Existing nurseries which have suffered from years of neglect are also being restored.

In Gabon, no improved varieties were available, so seeds from Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon were imported and germinated in enough quantities to cover the annual demand, nurseries were also established as part of this rehabilitation process.

Farmers also need credit in order to afford expensive inputs such as fertilizers which are necessary to produce large beans. So, loans were organized to be paid back once the returns from the coffee make it economically viable.

The project supplied advanced processing machinery for the communal use of farmers who are trained how to use them. On top of this, a liquoring lab was set up in both countries and ‘coffee cuppers’ were trained (in collaboration with the Coffee Quality Institute). Their job is to determine the quality and grading of the produced coffee – the aim being to reward quality with premiums.

With all this in place and a reliable market established, a sustainable gourmet coffee industry will be achieved and the scheme may well be adopted by other West African countries.

www.cabi.org/w.africancoffee partners International Coffee Organization (ICO) Comité de Coordination pour les Filières Café et Cacao (CCFCC), Togo Caisses de Stabilisation et de Péréquation (CAISTAB), Gabon sponsors Common Fund for Commodities (CFC)

contact CABI, ICRAF Complex, United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, PO Box 633-00621, Nairobi, Kenya T: +254 20 72 24450 F: +254 20 71 22150 E: africa@cabi.org www.cabi.org/africa

ID-WAC-06-12

Charles Agwanda, Project Manager