President of the West African Specialty Coffee Association (WASCA), Larry Segun-Lean, has expressed worry over the country’s dwindling earnings from coffee export, despite the country’s ability to generate millions of dollars from it.
Speaking on the back of Ethiopia’s earnings from coffee export in the last year, he said that Nigeria’s case is very sad. He said there are several ways the country can earn FX from the export of goods and finished products, which it has not explored.
Ethiopia earned $835 million from coffee exports in revenue over the last nine months, exporting 174,596 tons of coffee to the international market.
In comparison, Nigeria earned just about $60,000 from the export of raw beans with its main destinations being France, Egypt, Belgium, Benin Republic and Togo while it imported $3.41M in finished coffee products from the Philippines, Cote d’Ivoire, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Italy.
Segun-Lean regretted the situation, saying Nigeria could earn as much as $2 billion in FX earnings for the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) if it takes the sector more seriously.
He said despite having 14 states capable of producing coffee in Nigeria, the country is still not among the top 10 producers of coffee in Africa, which includes Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda.
He said that with Nigeria’s dwindling fortune in oil, there is a need for greater attention to be shifted to non-oil products like coffee and cocoa to shore up the country’s revenue drive.
He said despite endless appeals on their part, the government is yet to come to terms with the potential of coffee export, decrying that coffee farmers have been abandoned to face numerous challenges on their own.
“We cannot do much on our own without government’s and the Ministry of Agriculture’s support. Coffee prices in the international market have gone up significantly but Nigeria is not benefitting because our export trade is very poor. Coffee is grown in 14 states and we export the beans raw with no value addition, this is why we are not making much money from the produce,” he said.
