Costs and efficacy of operating coffee hand pulpers in Ethiopia: A cost- benefit analysis

Abstract

In Ethiopia coffee quality suffers as a result of less care being taken for the trees and during harvesting and processing. About 40% of the quality of coffee is determined by primary processing, while the other 20% and 40% is attributed to secondary processing and field practices respectively. Thus, primary processing is crucial in enhancing the quality and subsequent value of coffee. The methods of coffee processing are sun-dried and wet processing. Hand pulpers are being promoted to improve the quality of processed coffee. A cost-benefit analysis was conducted to assess the efficacy and measure the profitability of operating hand pulpers compared to sun-dried processing methods. The hand pulpers have a benefit cost ratio of 1.2, internal rate of return of 28.37% and a net present value of US$ 1,231. The coffee hand pulpers achieved good separation efficiency, which is consistent with the theoretical conversion ratio (5:1) of red cherries to parchment. The costs of producing 1 kg of pulped coffee are twice the costs of a similar quantity of sun-dried coffee. The corresponding prices of pulped coffee are more than double those of sun-dried coffee, which therefore makes pulped coffee more profitable to the farmers. The quality of coffee processed by hand pulpers was significantly different (p=0.04) and better than sun-dried coffee. This finding is in conformity with the views of 97% of the farmers that used hand pulpers. There was underutilization of capacity of the hand pulpers despite the existence of high potential of coffee production. This means that sustainability of the hand pulpers would require production of higher quantities of coffee, organised harvesting and good hand pulper operating skills.    Key words: Quality, costs, benefits, efficacy, processing.