International Coffee Day 2020
Thursday 1st October is International Coffee Day! At MARKUP we celebrate the small-scale farmers, processors, roasters and exporters that make our daily cup of coffee possible. MARKUP supports East African SMEs in the coffee sector in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda to become more competitive and to access markets in the EAC, EU and beyond.
This year’s focus of International Coffee Day will be on ‘Coffee’s Next Generation’ as announced by the International Coffee Organization. It concentrates on the unprecedented economic effects of the COVID19 pandemic on the entire coffee sector, on the demand side as well as on the supply side. Farmers, who had already been struggling before the pandemic due to low prices and global challenges such as climate change, are now in danger of losing their livelihood through a dramatic decline in demand as people around the globe are restricted to their homes and restaurants, cafes and coffee bars are closed. Moreover, young people are moving away from coffee farming and looking for jobs elsewhere – a real threat to the coffee value chain.
EU-EAC MARKUP takes up the challenge in an online panel discussion organised by the International Trade Centre on "Working together towards EAC coffee value addition and market access in the wake of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic", on 1st October from 14-15h EAT live on Facebook. The panellists are drawn from the coffee sector in the region and include: Mr Amir Hamza- CEO of Amir Hamza (T) Limited
- Mr Kennedy Keya, Chairman, Kenya Coffee Traders Association (KCTA)
- Mr Gilbert Gatali, Chairman, Coffee Exporters and Processors Association of Rwanda (CEPAR)
- Mr Nestor Nizigiye, Head of Standardization and Quality Control, ODECA, Burundi
- Emmanuel Iyamulemye Niyibigira, Managing Director, Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA)
- Mr Fahari Marwa, Principal Agricultural Economist, EAC Secretariat.
In Uganda, UCDA is marking the International Coffee Day with a week long series of activities under the hashtag #UgandaCoffeeDay2020, including a webinar targeting women and youth discussing lessons learnt during the pandemic, how to navigate the New Normal and the future of coffee both locally and globally.
The Kahawa Festival is organized in Moshi (Tanzania) from 1-3 October 2020 by the Tanzania Coffee Board, a custodian of Coffee Development in Tanzania in collaboration with sector players to commemorate the International Coffee Day. Kahawa Festival brings together more than 80 organisation along the coffee value chain and more than 1,500 visitors to network and deliberate on pertinent issues within the coffee value chain. The event offers an opportunity for players in the coffee sector to network and forge market links with numerous potential players. The festival aims to increase coffee domestic consumption with the background of promoting Tanzania coffee traditionally, lifestyle and economically for all player involved.