MAJOR FACTORS AFFECTING COFFEE ARABICA QUALITY AND GRADING METHODS IN ETHIOPIA: A REVIEW

Ethiopia is the birthplace and is the largest producer of Arabica coffee in Sub Saharan Africa countries and it is ranked the fifth largest coffee producer in the world next to Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, and Indonesia which contributes more than 35% of total export earnings and it is a comer’s stone in supporting directly or indirectly 25% of the live hood of total population. It is produced almost all region of the country. However its production is mainly concentrated in the south, southwest and east of the country. The annual production ranges from 200,000 to 250,000 metric tons depending on weather and soil condition. Despite the favorable climatic condition variety for coffee and long history of production in Ethiopia, the quality of coffee and its grading level are poor due to different factors like soil, climate, pre and post-harvest factors, genetic makeup of the plants, institutional factors and socio economic back ground of the farmers. Both sun dried and fermented coffee is graded based on cup quality and raw value which accounts 60% and 40% respectively. There were some research done so far on the area of coffee fermentation, training for coffee expertise quality and some factors affect coffee quality like genetic factors. However; there is wide gap in information and documentation of major factors affecting coffee quality and its grading methods like effects of post-harvest processing and handling techniques of coffee quality. So the objective of this seminar paper is to review major factors affect coffee Arabica quality and it’s grading methods. And finally, Future research should be focused on such like factors that deteriorate quality of coffee Arabica and its grading.