Introduction to the Origin and Brand of Coffee Farmers' income in Ethiopia

Ethiopian coffee farmers income varieties Origin types Brand introduction

Getachew Mengistie, head of Ethiopia's Intellectual Property Bureau, pointed out pointedly that farmers sell for $1.45 a pound of raw beans, while Starbucks sells for $26 a pound in the United States, an 18-fold spread. The reason is that Ethiopia does not know how to use intellectual property rights to create value for farmers. As long as it is branded as Ethiopian fine beans, it can be marketed in the United States at three times the price of ordinary commercial beans. It is important to know that the investment in roasting, packaging and marketing equipment in the downstream channel of the United States alone cannot create such a huge added value, because most of the value comes from the coffee production area (if Starbucks does not have the name of "Sidamo", it will not sell at such a high price). He stressed that: "Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and famous producing areas naturally have huge marketing value, but they are ignored by farmers. As a result, excess profits are finally earned easily by countries that know how to use the prestige of producing areas to create value. In November 2006, Starbucks 'new senior vice president, Du Hei,(Dub Hay is the so-called "big shot" who visited Yunnan last year) He even published a video on YouTube openly criticizing Ethiopia for applying for trademarks of place names, and suggested that the Ethiopian authorities adopt a system of origin certification, such as Jamaica Blue Mountain and Hawaii Kona Coffee, to protect consumers. The video attracted tens of thousands of views in a month, but angered the US media and humanitarian groups, saying Starbucks ate ugly. Lawyer Roberta Hutton, representing Ethiopia, said: "Duhay is full of nonsense. Ethiopia's move is aimed at protecting valuable goods and strengthening its intellectual property rights. Ethiopia is just adopting Starbucks 'strategy to protect its trademark. Why do others have to make things difficult for others to do so? Getachew Mengistie, Director General of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Authority, said: "Starbucks 'proposed certification system is not feasible because cold, illiterate coffee farmers do not have the capacity to carry out additional paperwork certification, and doing so will only increase unnecessary fees, prices will not increase, and farmers will not benefit." The purpose of our trademark application is to enable farmers to have a better income, sleep on mattresses instead of on the ground, eat at least one meal a day, and be able to send their children to school. "Do you want me to go?" The US media criticized Starbucks on the one hand, and even criticized Starbucks as "a modern version of colonial hegemony, stealing Ethiopia's thousand-year-old high-quality coffee..." Although the language was a little too much, under the pressure of strong public opinion, Douhet finally apologized publicly and retracted his remarks that "Ethiopia's trademark application is illegal."