Ethiopia launches a $20.8 million coffee land use program to help local coffee and agriculture

Recently, the Ethiopian government, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), officially launched a long-term plan to combat deforestation and integrate sustainability into the coffee industry. According to the United Nations Development Programme, the plan is under additional funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The joint project has a budget of US $20.8 million and is scheduled to operate from 2024 to 2031.

The program is called FOLUR (Food system, Land use and recovery). The Food system, Land use and recovery impact Plan is a $345 million seven-year initiative funded by the Global Environment Facility and led by the World Bank. Aimed at transforming food and land use systems, it consists of a global knowledge platform and 27 national projects. Work at the national level will focus on accelerating the distribution and value chain actions of eight major commodities, including livestock, cocoa, coffee, corn, palm oil, rice, soybeans and wheat.

The project is aimed at effectively preventing forest loss, deforestation and promoting restoration and reforestation in Ethiopia. And integrate sustainability into Ethiopia's coffee value chain and food system to provide market support to Ethiopian coffee producers.

At present, the project has formally adopted Ethiopia's integrated land use policy, while seeking to improve the livelihoods of some 440000 people. It is hoped that through the project 10500 hectares of non-productive coffee fields in the territory will be restored and 60000 hectares of key forest land will be restored and managed. The FOLUR project is being implemented in 22 regions in Oromia, Sidamo, central and southwestern Ethiopia.

Earlier, the EU issued the EU deforestation regulations (EUDR), which stipulates that no individual or enterprise can sell products involving deforestation in the EU market, including coffee, cocoa and other products. The regulation will have an adaptation period of 18-24 months and will come into effect by the end of December 2024 at the earliest. Therefore, many importers dare not import coffee rashly. African countries in particular prohibit the sale of goods related to forest destruction because of the law. According to industry sources, the cost of getting African countries to comply with EU deforestation regulations (EUDR) will be significantly higher and more difficult. Therefore, this project aims to help Ethiopian coffee exports comply with EU EUDR regulations and have the support of the market. After all, coffee is Ethiopia's main source of export income, accounting for about 30-35% of exports.