Ethiopia is showing its citizens there is more to coffee than just its robust, mild or medium taste.
A precedent-setting deal with coffee giant Starbucks this year allows Ethiopia to promote the names of its coffee-growing regions worldwide. Hopes are high that this strategy will increase the coffee's value and hopefully bring a much-needed increase in income to its poor farmers.
In June, Ethiopia signed a deal with Starbucks that would see the Seattle-based company refrain from trademarking the names Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe - its coffee's brand names, but also the names of three of the Horn of Africa country's coffee-growing regions. It came after months of wrangling, with the government arguing the names were key to increasing revenue from its largest foreign-exchange earner.
"We see intellectual property as a tool for development," said Getachew Mengistie, who helped draft the country's intellectual property legislation in the mid-1990s, and is now head of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Organisation (EIPO), a government body.
About 85% of Ethiopians are farmers who only in the past decade grouped together in cooperative unions to get a fair share of profit for their product.
This season, 1kg of coffee from the southern Sidamo region (also called Sidama) sold for $1,65, with Starbucks selling a bag of the same amount for more than $10. The farmers make about $550 a year and such a deal, proponents say, could significantly increase their standard of living.
But much work remains to be done. The EIPO attempted to raise awareness among farmers and continues to hold workshops to show them that a good brand must be matched by good quality.
Sidama Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union meets its 87,000 farmers regularly to show them the best methods to produce excellent coffee. "The name will not help us unless we keep the quality. We have a lot to do in this area," said Tsegaye Anebo, head of the union.
The government must also step in, Getachew said, taking quality assessments and urging small traders to sell only the best coffee abroad.
IP and branding are tools that corporations around the world use to add value," said Seth Petchers, who heads Oxfam's coffee programme. "Now a developing country is seeking to use those same tools that have benefited corporations, to benefit farmers."
Ethiopia has signed similar licensing agreements with 24 coffee companies in the United States and Europe, and the goal is to get about 150 companies worldwide to do the same to make sure the names of its regions are recognised to the extent where farmers and unions can set their own price.
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