ABSTRACT

Coffee is of major importance for East African countries. On a macro-level in all these countries, the crop is one of the three main export products and represents a large export share; in 2009 this was: Burundi 76 per cent, Uganda 35 per cent, Ethiopia 31 per cent and Rwanda 29 per cent (AEO 2013). As exports contribute strongly to the GDP of East African countries (in 2010 this was: Kenya 26 per cent, Uganda 24 per cent and Tanzania 24 per cent), coffee plays an important role in the national economies in the region (World Bank 2013). At the micro-level, coffee has an important place in the livelihood strategy for many of the rural poor in East Africa, as smallholder farmers are primarily responsible for producing coffee in the region (Salami et al. 2010).