The Zambia Coffee Growers Association – ZCGA has disclosed that the country’s coffee production stands at only about 4, 200 metric tonnes for the current season with only six (6) commercial farmers actively growing coffee in the country.
Association Chief Executive Officer Joseph Taguma said the six large-scale farmers currently growing coffee are based in Lusaka, Southern, Northern, Central and Copperbelt provinces adding that the coffee is mainly exported to Japan, the United States of America (USA) and Europe, with some of it locally consumed.
Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Taguma said only a few people are growing coffee because the country does not have long-term finance for pre-crop agriculture adding that a lot is involved in coffee production.
Taguma said one of the reasons most people in Zambia have not ventured into coffee production is because it is capital intensive and there are no attractive financing packages to attract new growers in the banking and financial services in Zambia.
He added that the prices of coffee on the export market depend on the quality of the crop but on average, one metric ton of coffee is fetching around $3,500. The country has what it takes in terms of the climatic and weather requirements.
Moreover, the existing commercial farms have not successfully rolled out extensive outgrower schemes to attract local farmers to grow more coffee. This further contributes to the crop not getting more hectarage of cultivation.
Africa has notable coffee exports with 2021 exports valued at about US$2.5 billion. Ethiopia is the leading exporter and earned about $1.2 billion, followed by Uganda with exports of $600 million in 2021. Zambia’s neighbour Tanzania as well as Kenya are also important coffee producers.
