Ethiopian Coffee Research Centre
Gimbi
State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development underscored the need to further strengthen efforts to earn additional foreign currency from coffee by addressing problems that affect its development.
The State Minister, Dr. Abera Deresa, said that professionals, farmers and the government should integrate their efforts to create demand for coffee, which plays a major role in the economic development of the country, by improving its quality and quantity as well.
Dr. Abera was speaking at a field visit recently organized for MPs to the Haru Agricultural Research Centre in West Wollega Zone of Oromia State.
Professionals in the sector need to actively engage in developing disease-resistant and high-yield coffee species, and popularize improved technologies, the State Minister said, adding that the activities in the Haru Agricultural Research Centre are encouraging.
Rural Development Affairs Standing Committee Chairperson with the House of Peoples' Representatives, Ababi Demise, on his part commended the activities of professionals in the centre and said they should also be active in popularizing the outcomes of their research to farmers.
Centre Representative Million Abebe said the eight-year-old centre has been generating technologies that would ensure the quality of the coffee being produced in the locality at the world market.
According to Million, the centre has been conducting studies on 559 species collected from six coffee-growing areas in the zone over the last eight years.
He said it has developed 14 coffee species which are relatively high-yield, disease-resistant and give off a rich aroma.
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