Ethiopia has long been renowned as a top producer of specialty coffees like Yirgacheffe and Harar. However, rising temperatures and prolonged droughts are now making it much harder for smallholder farmers to cultivate their signature coffee crops. As an alternative, many farmers have gradually begun replacing their coffee trees with the more drought-resistant khat plant. Khat requires less labor and watering while providing higher financial returns per kilo at the farm level.
Over the past decade and a half, leading importers have noticed major declines in both the quality and quantity of coveted coffees originating from places like Harar. Some varieties are now almost impossible to source internationally. If left unaddressed, experts warn that Ethiopia risks losing its prized status as a premier coffee growing nation within 20 years. BirrMetrics Staff Writer Mihret Alem delves into the complex environmental, economic, and social impacts unfolding - presenting a sobering case study of how climate change threatens agricultural heritage globally.
For centuries, the city of Harar in eastern Ethiopia was renowned for producing some of the finest coffee in the world. Its Arabica coffee beans were prized globally for their distinctive flavors, often described as having notes of apricot, blueberry, cocoa, and raisin. However, in recent decades the environment around Harar has been steadily becoming hotter and drier due to climate change. As a result, cultivating coffee has grown increasingly difficult for farmers in the region. Facing challenges to their livelihoods from the worsening drought conditions, many coffee farmers in Harar have started looking elsewhere for reliable sources of income.
Over time, they have gradually been replacing their coffee trees with a different cash crop known as khat. Khat is a psychoactive plant native to the Horn of Africa whose leaves are chewed for their euphoric effects. It has been cultivated and consumed in Ethiopia for centuries but its cultivation and usage have expanded throughout East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula in line with growing demand.
Khat presents several advantages over coffee for farmers in Harar's dry climate. It is more resilient to high temperatures and low rainfall, often producing two harvests per year compared to coffee's single crop. Khat also requires less intensive labor and watering. Most importantly, khat has been increasingly profitable for farmers. While coffee earns Harar significant foreign exchange through exports, khat returns a higher income per kilogram at the field level.
Over the past decade and a half, interested observers such as importers and coffee graders have noticed a steady decline in both the quality and quantity of coffee coming from Harar. Ewan Cameron, food quality manager at Europe-based importer Trade Aid, noted that descriptions of Harar coffee in their records transitioned from emphasizing flavor notes like apricot and blueberry to leather, tobacco, and clove between 2010-2022.
"Both the quality and the quantity of coffee coming out of Harar has been dropping slowly for years, and lately it has become rare to see it for sale anywhere. My cupping records for Harar from 2010 use words like 'apricot and blueberry, cocoa, and raisin', words that have slowly given way to 'leather, tobacco, clove and spice' – something has certainly been changing over the years," notes Ewan Cameron, food quality manager of the importing company.
In early 2023, Trade Aid was informed there was insufficient high quality Harar coffee available to fulfill their contractual needs, a first in 18 years of importing over 500,000 kilograms from the region annually. "The decline seems to have come to a head this year, because in early 2023, when we were looking to contract Harar, we were told that there was not enough coffee of sufficient quality available for us to buy, which has meant that for the first time in 18 years and half a million kilos of coffee, we no longer have Harar on our offer sheet," added Ewan.
Not only for Harar's farmers, but also for many farmers across Ethiopia, khat presents several advantages over their traditional coffee crop in the new dryland environment. Zelalem Fisseha, an Ethiopian coffee exporter, attributed the diminishing role of coffee directly to farmers replacing their land with khat. He explained that khat requires less maintenance than coffee while generating most of its income on a per kilogram basis. While coffee exports bring Ethiopia 1.4 billion dollars in foreign exchange annually, khat exports total around 400 million dollars.
However, at the farmer level khat is currently more profitable. If this trend continues unchecked, the country’s legacy as one of the world's finest coffee growing regions could disappear. The challenges facing Harar coffee have been exacerbated by upcoming new European Union regulations on deforestation. The EU will soon require importers to prove their coffee supply chains are not linked to deforestation, a difficult task in Ethiopia's fragmented smallholder system. Traders worry this rule could further dampen international demand for Ethiopian coffee if provenance cannot be clearly established by the December 2024 deadline.
Khat is not only replacing coffee in traditionally important areas like Harar but also expanding into newer regions such as Yirgacheffe and Kaffa which were once coffee strongholds. The Oromia region surrounding Harar, including East and West Hararghe, now accounts for over half of Ethiopia's 280,000 hectares of khat farms. Khat production in Oromia increased from 1.8 million quintals in 2021 to a massive 3.9 million quintals just one year later due to strong profits.
Locals confirm khat's profitability and growing importance to the rural economy. One farmer who preferred to remain anonymous said "the khat market is always busy, it has always been a cash cow."
Government officials are also promoting khat farming through initiatives like the construction of large khat trading centers costing 10 million dollars each. These hubs are meant to facilitate legal khat exports and widespread cultivation. The simultaneous challenges of climate change impacts and more lucrative local alternatives like khat have seriously threatened Ethiopia’s place as a premier coffee origin. If left unaddressed, experts warn the region risks losing its iconic status.
"Harar coffees were famous worldwide with aficionados. To see them now virtually disappear from markets would be a real loss," laments an exporter of coffee.
Zelalem is also concerned, explaining that "while khat brings in less foreign exchange overall, individual farmers earn much more per kilo. Without policy changes, I fear coffee's role in Ethiopia may vanish."
Environmentalist also warn that the gradual replacement of coffee with khat is having profound environmental and social impacts in Harar. As coffee farms are cleared, the diverse shade trees that once helped regulate temperature and maintain soil quality are disappearing. Without this natural protection, the land risks becoming degraded under khat's faster growth rate, they warn.
The deep root systems of coffee trees also helped prevent erosion, but khat's shallow roots provide less stability to the dry soil. Long-term, this could exacerbate the effects of climate change through increased runoff and sand storms, according to environment experts.
While cognizant of khat replacing coffee farms, Ethiopia's Coffee Authority has set an ambitious target of four billion dollars in annual coffee and tea export revenues by 2030. To arrest the decline, they aim to financially incentivize coffee growing through higher prices and improved infrastructure.
However, with khat weathering climate change better and proving more immediately lucrative, reversing the current trend remains an enormous challenge without transformative economic and agro-technical support for coffee smallholders. If left unchecked, Ethiopia’s status as one of the world's finest coffee growing countries risks being lost to the pages of history.
