How about Zambian coffee? is Zambian aa coffee good? Zambian coffee bean price report

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Zambia in Central Africa plays only a very insignificant role among the countries that produce Arabica coffee beans in the world, exporting about 6000 tons a year and earning a total of about US $85 million. But the country is working hard to increase production to 20000 tons over the next decade and is expected to be more popular with many coffee buyers around the world.

The land area of Zambia is about the same as Texas, or the United Kingdom and France combined, with a total population of about 11.5 million people, located in the Central African Plateau, is a country with a mainly tropical highland climate, mostly above 4000 feet above sea level, and some coffee producing areas are located at higher elevations.

Zambia first began to grow coffee trees commercially in 1978, and the first export record was in 1985. The success of growing coffee trees and the fact that Shangba hopes to earn higher income from the export of coffee beans have prompted the government to actively seek foreign assistance to improve the conditions for the country to grow coffee trees commercially.

With vast land and abundant water resources, it provides good irrigation conditions for coffee producing areas in Zambia. The production cost is relatively low, which makes up for the geographical shortcomings of the country. ─ Zambia is a landlocked country. Mild washed Arabica coffee beans (Mild Arabicas) produced in Zambia are comparable in quality to those of neighboring Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Most of the coffee trees grown in Zambia are Bourbon, with round beans, turquoise color, high density and slightly covered with silver skin. Zambian coffee also tastes sour, but it also has a round and thick sticky taste. The flavor is excellent.

This year, the land area of growing coffee beans in Zambia has reached 5000 acres, of which small-scale farms are about 200acres on average, family-run farms range in size from 20 to 550acres, and large-scale commercial farms range from 30 to 1300 acres.

The cultivation of coffee is highly in line with the business strategy of the growers of the general commercial system in Zambia, who combine the cultivation of coffee with other farm projects (such as beef cattle, dairy products, flowers and vegetables, etc.). The Zambian state's income depends mainly on the export of agricultural products except for the export of copper and other minerals. Zambia invests in the purchase of processing equipment and the development of demand for other agricultural products in the country through income earned from the export of coffee.

With a very large unemployed population in Zambia, the process of producing coffee beans happens to provide many fixed long-term job opportunities, and these job vacancies can usually be assigned by farm owners or persons-in-charge, assigning different jobs according to each season. this is also a way of relief for the people of rural Zambia, who are generally poor.

Almost all of the arable land in Zambia is allocated to its nationals, and only a small part of the land is allocated to foreign companies operating commercially, which is very different from that of other neighboring coffee-producing countries. In addition, because in Zambia, because the population is not large, compared with other countries, Zambia does not have the problem of inadequate distribution of land and water resources.

In fact, the Zambian Government is encouraging the conversion of existing cultivated land to commercial cultivation, adopting a 1999 land lease policy rather than the sale and purchase of land.

Zambia only grows Arabica coffee trees, most of which are traditional Bourbon, and all coffee beans are washed, and the quality of its coffee beans is comparable to that of Kenyan coffee. Zambian coffee trees, coupled with the altitude of the coffee producing areas in the south of the country, make the coffee beans produced in the country mild in flavor but rich in content, belonging to the type of coffee that is easily loved by the general public.

Since the cultivation of coffee in Zambia started relatively late, it is possible to combine the latest technology and the concept of environmental protection, coupled with sophisticated water resources utilization, effective recovery of coffee pulp into compost, biological pest control and ecological balance are applied to the country's coffee industry at the same time. At the same time, the country's coffee industry is more committed to transforming the traditional labour-intensive industry into a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship with the rural people of Zambia.

According to Zambian law, the country's coffee industry is mainly dominated by the Zambian Coffee Council, which authorizes most of the operating mechanisms to coffee farmers to form the Zambia Coffee Farmers Association (ZCGA).

Founded in 1987, the association now has a membership of 70 large-scale farms and 530 small-scale farms, all of which are coffee farmers. The founding goal of the association is to take into account the interests of its members, mainly to provide secretarial materials, coffee business development, various training, technical support, quality control, marketing services and other business.

As total exports of Zambian coffee beans reached 6500 tons in 2003, the Zambian Coffee Farmers' Association is planning to launch a 1.5 tonne dry grinding equipment (Dry Mill), funded by the European Union, to be built in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, which is also the headquarters of the Zambian Coffee Farmers' Association and is located in the heart of the country's coffee producing areas.

The facility was officially opened by the President of Zambia in April this year and provides dry grinding services to small-scale farms in the Zambian Coffee Farmers' Association. Because farmers on small-scale farms themselves do not have the financial ability to buy their own dry grinders, these small-scale farms can also find large-scale farms to do post-processing work such as dry polishing of coffee beans for them.

In his inaugural speech, Zambian President Mwanawasa mentioned that the Zambian government's policy is to ensure that coffee farmers on small-scale farms are encouraged by substantial cash transactions in coffee beans and technical support. "in order to encourage small-scale coffee farms, we will adopt an 'external grower' mechanism as our business strategy," he said. (translator's note: the meaning of "external grower" is supposed to be "centered on the latter stage of the government-run processing plant, small-scale coffee farmers provide the raw material supply of coffee cherries, while the government-operated grinding plant provides post-processing procedures." it is a compromise mode of division of labor between the government and the people. )

In fact, at present, this mechanism does not work very well, and the total amount of coffee produced and exported in this way is only 9 tons, mainly due to the lack of facilities for import and irrigation, without good irrigation facilities, it will not be possible to grow smoothly or achieve sufficient production in Zambia. At present, the Zambian banking sector is not actively assisting small-scale coffee farms in urgent need of cash flow. On the other hand, there is a deep-rooted old belief in Zambia that lending is a "gift" and does not need to be repaid.

The Zambian Coffee Council, which is responsible for operating the mechanism, decided to hand it over to the Zambian Coffee Farmers' Association, which currently plans to extend the concept of "external growers" to coffee farms in the organization's large enterprise system to compromise and indirectly assist the livelihoods of their small farm allies. There are already some large enterprise systems that are willing to provide doorstep extension services (the translator does not know what this service is and will write to the original author and then fill in the details), input, irrigation facilities, centrally managed post-processing plants, and so on, to continue this "external grower" project.

Despite the current low prices in the international coffee futures market, several top coffee beans (such as AAA/AA grade) produced in Zambia can still be sold at good prices, especially in the boutique market in Japan, where the best price is about US $1900 per ton.

About 94 per cent of Zambian coffee beans are sold to western Europe and Scandinavia, accounting for only 5 per cent of total exports to Japan in recent years and 1 per cent of re-exports to the United States through Western Europe. The future goal of the Zambian Coffee Farmers' Association is to increase the total amount of coffee beans exported to Japan to 10% of the total export volume, and to have direct import and export opportunities with the United States market.

In Zambia, coffee export trade is an emerging industry, which has high development potential and can earn considerable foreign exchange differences, so it is still possible to flourish in the future. Coffee beans, coupled with tourism and other agricultural products in the country, have been able to free Zambia from an economy that is too dependent on copper exports.

At present, what the country still lacks most is the investment of funds and appropriate long-range marketing programs. Zambia still has to rely on the Olympic aid of organizations such as the European Union in order to continue to promote the country's coffee beans to the world coffee market.

To put an end to the plan for small-scale farms, the country also has plans to continue to expand large-scale farms, but five large farms stopped producing coffee beans last season because of a lack of financial assistance for the expansion plan.

Among the existing members, they generally barely make a living on the export of grown coffee beans. Due to the lack of external assistance and financial disadvantages, they all have to rely on these meagre incomes to continue to grow limited coffee beans. They are unable to expand their business scale or update their equipment. At present, what Zambia needs most is long-term financial support, at least stable funding for 10 years, so as to effectively improve the quality of the country's growing mirror and coffee.

Joseph Taguma, senior general manager of the Zambian Coffee Farmers' Association, said: "the central dry grinding equipment helps to raise the average level of coffee beans in the country, as well as an option to mix beans with similar flavors to meet more stable standards. This procedure will be carried out under close on-site monitoring. We have also built a separate warehouse to store inputs such as chemicals and fertilizers for members' use. The Association is also responsible for the quality control of coffee beans and export services with a sense of mission. Export sales and delivery are carried out on a case-by-case basis. As a result, buyers receive double benefits such as quality and service. Before export, coffee beans will be tested by professional tasters in advance, and after each taste, opinions will be collected and handed over to coffee farmers for reference in the future, with a view to better quality in the future. In addition, a resident professional team has been formed to provide members with professional advice on planting, post-processing, and export operations. "

In the marketing section, the Zambian Coffee Farmers' Association has developed a mixed premium bean trademark called "Zambica", which is jointly produced by a small number of coffee farms approved by the association, for two purposes: to give small-scale farms the opportunity to market their products to the boutique coffee market, and to provide a stable supply of high-quality coffee beans.

Among them, a small number of estates are printed with their own brands and marketed to the boutique market, but they are all sent through the Zambian Coffee Farmers' Association. These manor beans have very unique flavor characteristics in the producing areas. And they have received good reviews internationally. As long as their coffee beans can pass the strict audit standards of the association, they can get the quality certification mark of the association. All coffee beans exported from Zambia must obtain this certification mark, which ensures that buyers can always buy good coffee of high quality and impeccable quality.

In general, Zambian coffee grades can be divided into AA, AA/AB, AB, PB and other smaller beans, but can also be adjusted according to the quality and size needs of individual buyers.

These estates that have continued to show steady performance are: Isanya Estates, in the northern province of Zambia, Abercorn (now known as Mbala), near the highlands on the southern border of Tanzania; Mpongwe Estates, in the Luanshya area of Copperbelt province; Mutuwila Estates, in the highlands of Central province; Chamba Valley Estates, in the highlands of Lusaka province; Munali Coffee Estates, in Southern province, in the name of its hill near the shared border, which was discovered by David Livingstone; and Terranova Estates, in the Mazabuka highland area of Southern province.

Although Zambia is a landlocked country, it is not closed to traffic. At present, the country has a number of international and regional air routes, and the railway and road transport system is also very advanced. Imports and exports can be carried out through the following ports: the port of Durban from South Africa to the Indian Ocean, the ports of Maputo and Beira in Mozambique, and the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. There is another route to the Atlantic, via Walvis Bay in Namibia, which is about to pass, but for now, coffee goods to the Atlantic are all distributed at the port of Durban.

In terms of environmental conservation, most estates cover part of the natural forest conservation areas, there are sufficient forest land and grasslands to provide safe habitats for local wild animals, birds and insects, and the country's rivers and dams are full of aquatic life. Visitors to Zambia can sometimes see traces of leopards, bobcats, hyenas, jackals and other exotic animals.

On the other hand, the coffee tree itself provides good shelter for creatures such as antelopes and hares. Many coffee farmers grow up and live in this environment, and they hope to be able to maintain it all the time, so that future generations can enjoy such a rich and unique natural environment.

In a typical Chamba Valley Estates, its estate at 1300 above sea level is full of Bourbon coffee trees, irrigated with sprinkler irrigation equipment, and interplanted with original trees. Coffee beans are dried in the natural sun after washing and treatment in the manor. Chamba Valley Estates coffee beans are currently the leading brand of Zambian coffee.

Tigg Siddle, vice president of the Zambian Coffee Farmers' Association, mentioned in a recent interview that the association plans to expand the total output of Zambian coffee so that it can be listed in the world. "at present, the annual output of our country is only 6500 tons, and our influence in the world coffee market is really very low. our goal is to increase the total output to 20000 tons within 10 years, but at this stage, long-term financial problems are the main bottleneck we face." The association had previously been funded by the European Union's Enterprise Development Fund (EDF) for its development projects, but now the funding program is about to expire.

In order to make Zambian coffee more famous, the Zambian Coffee Farmers Association plans to hold a trip to the roasters' producing areas between May and June next year. "participants only need to spend the money on round-trip air tickets," according to the association. We are responsible for all the expenses here. "

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