Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 16 February 2012. Ato Fikru Amenu, Deputy Director in the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture launched the Second African Coffee Sustainability Forum: “Creating market access through sustainable practices” in Addis Ababa on 15 February 2012.Over 130 participants representing the main stakeholders in the African coffee sector took part in the event. The Forum was organized by the 4C Association and the Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA) and built on the success of last year’s meeting in Arusha, Tanzania. This year’s Forum focused on three main topics regarding sustainable coffee production: coffee quality and productivity, climate change and capacity building and organizational development. Key expert speakers addressed these topics in plenary sessions. Besides the presentations, the delegates took part in parallel working groups for in-depth discussions on these issues. Participants exchanged lessons learned as well as shared best practices and j
The goal of the Forum is for participants to share practical experiences on the successes and challenges of sustainable coffee production, processing and trading. Against this premise, the rationale of the forum is to draw input from participants to generate ideas, innovations, best practices, recommendations and proposals on how documented success can be sustained and scaled up and how challenges can be addressed to ensure an effective implementation of sustainable coffee practices.