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From: B-Haile (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Mon Jan 03 2011 - 02:21:14 EST
"Deputy Prime Minister Abdulkarim al-Arhabi, who is the managing director of the Social Fund for Development, told participants representing 26 countries including the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Eritrea and Lebanon, that, "$1.2bn has been mobilised in a programme to microfinance enterprise industry in Yemen: 90% of which is coming from foreign sources."
Gulf times
Monday3/1/2011January, 2011, 12:06 AM Doha Time
Yemen seeks coffee-market niche
They came from as far away as the United States and New Zealand to attend the Second International Conference on Arabica Naturals: the diplomats; the cuppers; the distributors, consultants and farmers. All in Sanaa to smell the rich aromatic Yemeni coffee and to seek the internationalisation of standards for natural coffees.
Underwritten by the Small Micro Enterprise Promotion Service (SMEPS), a subsidiary of the Social Fund for Development and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Arabica Naturals Conference was the first to be held in Yemen, with a strong emphasis on showcasing the sweeter side of a country that to westerners, is primarily branded a terrorist haven.
SMEPS executive director Wesam Qaid, the moving force behind and chairman of the conference, said the meeting -- drawing from groups representing the world's premier coffee producing nations including Ethiopia, Mexico, Indonesia and New Zealand -- put Yemen back on the coffee map. "Yemen coffee is rich and is 100% taken care of by hand, no machines," Qaid told The Media Line, explaining what differentiates Yemen's coffee from other coffee grown elsewhere.
The two-day confab, held at Sanaa's beautiful but heavily-fortified Movenpick Hotel, included workshops on cupping, roasting and espresso, along with professional and trade presentations and coffee exhibitions.
Kicking-off the first day of events, Yemen's Prime Minister Dr Ali Mohamed Mujawir praised the coffee farmers, asserting "that there is no better coffee than those of Yemen's mountains; and we thank the farmers who raise the name of Yemen high in the world.(making) coffee an original, national symbol."
Addressing the fact that Yemen's coffee industry lacks international standing in large part because it does not adhere to a system of grading recognised by coffee producers world-wide, the prime minister raised the industry's concerns, admonishing that, "We must conform to the international standards of producing coffee. This requires co-operation among governments; and among international and expert officials."
Deputy Prime Minister Abdulkarim al-Arhabi, who is the managing director of the Social Fund for Development, told participants representing 26 countries including the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Eritrea and Lebanon, that, "$1.2bn has been mobilised in a programme to microfinance enterprise industry in Yemen: 90% of which is coming from foreign sources."
Yemen, with its rich history and century-old techniques, is unique in that it consumes two-thirds of the coffee it produces. The United States has committed to contribute millions of dollars to boost Yemen's economy, which is one of the poorest countries in the world and supports a population of 24,000,000 people.
US Ambassador Gerald Feierstein is one of those who sees the focus on coffee as a welcome diversion from the typical blood-and-mayhem coverage Yemen typically receives. He told The Media Line that most Americans don't know that Yemen is so closely associated with coffee and "I think if the American people have an opportunity to try it, they'll also have a great experience with it. It's a way of showing Yemen in a more positive light".
The earliest written evidence of coffee drinking appears in the mid-15th Century, from the Sufi Yemeni monasteries in southern Arabia. But 21st-Century Yemen today faces several challenging obstacles in its quest to attain a significant global market share.
Coffee in Yemen is grown in remote areas, on steep mountain sides reaching thousands of meters in height, restricting farmers' access and making it physically difficult to reach the growing fields with heavy manure - the natural fertiliser of preference. Qaid explained that chemicals are too difficult to carry into these remote areas.
A large percentage of the farms are located on mountains - on open patches of land scattered across mountains and terraces, some shaded by larger trees, and some by clouds according to Nadia Al-Sakkaf, editor-in-chief of The Yemen Times. Speaking to The Media Line, Al-Sakkaf painted a visual image describing "men and women jumping rocks in risky areas".
"Yet," she said, "they still feel at home."
Rural areas are home to 70% of Yemen's population. Of rural dwellers, more than 80% are women because the men -- and particularly the younger men -- have gone to the cities in search of a better life leaving the women to tend the farms, according to Al-Sakkaf.
Qaid explained the link between the nation's agricultural and demographic concerns, saying that, "If we can improve life in rural Yemen, we can limit migration to urban areas. We need to promote economic development."
In the conference exhibition hall, Fatma -- all covered in black - manned a table sponsored by the Talouq Womens Association, an organisation consisting of 164 female farmers. Fatma expounded on the problems her group is addressing, telling The Media Line that, "We lack the staff to train women on the machinery and a budget for training."
Coffee used to be a source of income for many but because of the drought (coffee-growing requires a great deal of water); and the lack of marketing strategy, most farmers have given up on traditional farming techniques (trimming trees and shading) and many have left farming altogether.
According to Al-Sakkaf, the women, who are increasingly central to the nation's coffee farming industry, need the support of the international community to open Yemen's access to the international market. Qaid charged that, "the Yemeni coffee private sector is marketing coffee the same as they marketed coffee 300 and 400 years ago. However, markets have changed."
Dressed in a colourfully appliquéd hejab headcovering and jelbab, the traditional black gown, Amira Al-Hemyari tells The Media Line that as a distributor her company, El Ezzi Industries, cares about the farmers' needs as well as its bottom line.
She says it has alleviated the water shortage by supplying farmers with water storage tanks and has helped their farmers to rid their farms of the harmful Qat plant which soaks the coffee plant dry. Amira says that the narcotic-like plant, which is farmed as a separate crop - and a lucrative one at that -- "takes a lot of water and gives good profit but kills the land".
But Abd Al-Rahman Mohamed of Musallam Trading disagrees. The water shortage is a natural occurrence, he says. "We need dams for water because of the drought."
Qat farmers outnumber coffee farmers by a margin of 680,000 to 110,000. The majority of farms have women tending trees, pruning and picking cherries. It's common among small farmers to pick their coffee beans and store them for years, saving them for a rainy day when they are in need of immediate cash. They all work through middlemen and several key distributors who then sell the coffee beans to the local and world markets.
The Al-Hamdani and Al-Kbous companies are the two oldest and largest exporters, both of which have been around for more than 100 years.
Al-Kbous has one of the largest factories in the Middle East. Hamida Hamden Al-Safi told The Media Line that the firm currently supplies Japan, the US, Canada and the Gulf States through their 40 distributors who deal directly with the farmers.
The company's mocha coffee is a source of both corporate and national pride. Al-Safi told The Media Line, "We are trying to keep the Mocha brand for our company. It belongs to Yemen and we don't want someone stealing it."
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