The decline and rise of the coffee economy in Zimbabwe the coffee industry in Zimbabwe is slowly recovering

[photo: Shutterstock]

Zimbabwe is a small country about the size of California and is home to some of Africa's richest coffee belts. Here, the conditions for growing coffee beans are perfect: high mountains, lush valleys and a cool climate.

The country was once famous for its SHQ coffee, which is slowly sun-dried, smooth and fruity. In the 1990s, Zimbabwean coffee became the darling of export cafes: London, New York, Johannesburg, Japan and Amsterdam. It accounts for 2% to 3% of GDP, bringing foreign wealth to commercial farms and livelihoods to countless workers.

But today its coffee industry is in ruins. Once bustling factories are now abandoned and farmers' debts are falling. Last year, Zimbabwe produced about 35000 tons of coffee, compared with 90, 000 tons in 1988. This is what happens after the bankruptcy of cash crops.

Commodity collapse

[photo: Ray Mwareya]

Benchada is a farmer in Zimbabwe's "Eastern Highlands" coffee area, a 1000-kilometer-long pristine coffee field. He harvested red Arabica coffee beans at dawn and lamented the collapse of Zimbabwe's once-booming coffee industry. "our government took the coffee farm from commercial growers in 2001, and the world punished us," Chada said.

This is a dispute that broke out in 2000. Then young militants loyal to President Robert Mugabe, 92, stormed the white-owned coffee farm and occupied the land. Dozens of farmers have died and hundreds have been exiled in South Africa, the United States, Australia and Britain. The attackers defended their actions, saying they were restoring farms seized from indigenous black Zimbabweans during the colonial period from 1890 to 1979.

On a famous coffee farm called Rosecommons, the panicked owner fled to Australia, abandoning 123 workers and their families. Chada explained: "since then to this day, farms, schools, clinics and shops have stopped because jobs and wages have dried up.

At the time of the attack, Chada was called an "out-of-town grower", a black coffee farmer who owned a small plot of land, close to a huge commercial farm, and relied on white neighbors for resources, expertise and machinery. Chada said: "first of all, in a week of anger, the attackers burned our coffee beans and burned a large number of trees, and the dried coffee pen became a nursery for marijuana and wild vegetables. "the militants are eager for quick profits, but a coffee tree once planted takes five years to mature, and patience is everything.

Cash crops can burn in an afternoon, but the economic pain has lasted for decades.

Chada continued: "even today, hundreds of former coffee workers have not received their pensions, many have died of disease and severe poverty, and their past employers can't help much. As far as I know, 30 coffee farmers have moved outside Zimbabwe and started new business in Mozambique. Ethiopia, Zambia and Malawi, the remaining workers are fishermen and gold prospectors. Or just street clothing vendors.

Coffee production in Zimbabwe has fallen sharply and militants have destroyed the farms they have acquired. The United States and the European Union fined the country in response to the attack. In the absence of foreign investment, new farmers, many of whom are robbers, cannot obtain bank loans to enrich land, buy pesticides, repair agricultural machinery or fund coffee exports.

Western buyers partially banned the government ban and began to reject Zimbabwean coffee. In addition, the production of quality coffee has declined due to the lack of expertise of new growers, fertilizers and pest control chemicals. Coffee beans become sick, their pods rot and their untreated huts wilt.

The collapse had a knock-on effect throughout the economy. Thousands of workers who used to work on coffee farms lost their jobs in new shantytowns. Global inflation is at a record high of more than 10 percent, and tourism has plummeted.

Arundell Arundel Ratic, an economist in Harare, the country's capital, said: "overnight, the picturesque coffee farm turned into an ugly weed jungle. "Coffee tourism dried up, farm schools collapsed into barns, and helicopters that had sprayed neat coffee were damaged because of their metal parts.

Graham Marlowe, president of the Zimbabwe Coffee sellers Association, said: "6540 workers, farmers, waiters, cooks and brewers directly related to coffee have fallen into serious poverty.

Cappuccino, an affordable meal in Zimbabwe's urban areas, has suddenly become an elite activity. "there are no coffee bags on the store shelves," explained Lorit Jeme, the cafe owner and president of the Zimbabwe Coffee Chef Association. "Coffee cans imported from Ethopia cost US $9, and of the 407 coffee restaurants operating in the country, 296 were closed by 2008.

A country that was once the most famous coffee destination in Africa cannot even store powdered coffee on supermarket shelves.

Move forward slowly

[photo: Shutterstock]

Although coffee growers in Zimbabwe continue to struggle today, the industry is blooming around the world. Twelve years ago, the average price of a ton of coffee was $1400. According to Coffee International, $4000 is now available, and Gifford Trevor, president of the Zimbabwe Coffee Growers Federation, explained: "Zimbabwe continues to lose billions of dollars.

In January this year, Chadha organized a farmer exchange trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, the most attractive city on the African continent, hosted by the Zimbabwe Alliance of small Coffee machines. He drank his first cappuccino in a Starbucks cafe. "I thought it was bitter lemon," he recalled. "the taste was careful and bittersweet.

"here's your coffee!" The coffee roaster at the restaurant told him. Chada was surprised to pay $3 for a cappuccino, considering he got back a whole 8-kilogram bag of coffee, earning $5.20.

Even if Zimbabwe's coffee industry starts to recover, it still lags behind well-equipped African countries such as Malawi, Rwanda and Kenya. Peter Multz, a former adviser to the Dutch charity SNV, has worked with Zimbabwean coffee growers to improve their business skills, pointing to one of the many challenges the industry must overcome. "it is not uncommon for coffee bags to be delayed for a week at border crossings and airports. Without proper facilities, beans can get wet and spoil, and sometimes African buyers have to pay bribes to speed up the delivery of coffee.

What recovery looks like

[photo: Ray Mwareya]

But if Zimbabwe's coffee industry can return to the same place, then there is a chance to enter the new high-priced market. "the international price of coffee has risen from $1 in the 1990s to $3 per pound," Trevor continued. "if coffee sales are properly restored, it could generate an annual income of US $200 million for Zimbabwe's US $4 billion national economy."

According to World Vision, most black coffee growers around the world today lack cash reserves to support their harvests. The international charity is training coffee growers: providing much-needed fertilizers, providing legal aid to register their plots, promoting seminars on how to sell coffee, purchasing materials to build metal dustbins to preserve coffee harvests, laying irrigation systems, choosing the right pesticides, and introducing bookkeeping skills to new farmers so that they don't waste their income. This is helpful. According to the Coffee Growers Association, coffee production in Zimbabwe increased in 2015: 35000 tons.

Britta Vigo (Britta Wego), national statistical coordinator of the Coffee growers Association, said: "among the farms, 5200 direct work is supported. After stabilizing inflation in the country, more and more domestic markets are reviving coffee exports to Europe, peace on farms and improved coffee processing, packaging and grading technologies, which are reviving the industry. She said of the local coffee industry, "2 million dollars in wages were received from farm growers, coffee graders and Packers, 57 farm schools were restored, and 98 farm clinics stored medicines for malaria, tuberculosis or common injuries. It's a relief. "

Skanyi Nara, 45, is an example of a happy worker. When a damaged farm improved new tractors, ploughs and freshwater dams, he returned to work. "after sitting at home for nine years, I was hired again in 2015 to drive a tractor to harvest coffee beans. My salary was very helpful. I bought a motorcycle and a water tank for the first time in my life!

The international reputation is also improving. Last year, U. S. sanctions were lifted in Zimbabwe. In early 2013, the European Union issued $12 million in aid to support new and small-scale coffee growers to revive the industry.

The improved market is achieving positive results. Coffee is an important part of cash crops, which jointly financed Zimbabwe's $2 billion small economy in 2015. Benchada himself saw the benefits: "in my village alone, 200 farmers returned to school for employment, and the on-site clinic dispensed medicine again. In the event of a dispute, it must not destroy cash crops, plant trees, and harvest will take years.

Ayew Dino, an economist at the Zimbabwe Food Security Network (Zimbabwe Food Security Network), explained: "Coffee alone can bring millions of dollars to our budget. It supports more than 9000 jobs, as well as schools, sports, clinics and community enterprises. prices are falling, and many people are happy to drink local coffee in Zimbabwe, thus improving the country's import costs.

Dino saw a painful lesson in Zimbabwe's sudden coffee collapse and slow recovery. "Coffee and tobacco and other cash crops support a country's manufacturing, schools and health. When coffee fails, hunger is ready, health is also affected, children drop out of education, and when countries like Zimbabwe start importing coffee drinks. Our budget deficit has been exhausted, the wheels of all sectors of the economy have been extinguished, coffee is not just a drink, for Zimbabwe. This is an economically healthy drink.