By 
The Deputy Minister for Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Hon. Davis Marapira, attended the IACO coffee 63rd conference meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from February 6th to 10th, 2024 on behalf of the Ministry and Government.
It emerged during this session that, coffee plays a significant role both economically and socially in Africa with Ethiopia being recognized as its birthplace due to their diverse coffee varieties. Zimbabwe was introduced to coffee at the turn of the century within Eastern districts such as Chimanimani and Chipinge with production starting earnestly in 1958 at Crocodile Creek farm after successful demonstration trials.
Zimbabwe participated in the Continental Coffee seminar against challenging factors that include declining production rates of coffee, limited investments and infrastructure development along with climate change concerns. Other obstacles faced were inefficient farming practices leading to limited access to credit and inputs resulting in market access limitations creating price volatility issues.
Various panellists presented on topics ranging from value addition techniques for coffee marketing models for crop financing along with sustainable methods for future productions while addressing climate change concerns during this continental gathering.
Focus was also directed towrds reforestation efforts amongst farmers regionally whilst mobilizing youths into participating fully in the Agriculture sector leveraging on their high numbers which foster regenerative agriculture growth through collective efforts aimed towards removing barriers hindering sustainable coffee value chains like those tackled by organizations such as ACORN (removing barriers surrounding carbon trading) or Rainforest Alliance (offering certification training).
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