State prepares over 173 million select coffee seedlings

S.Ethiopia Peoples' State, April 6, 2011 (Hawassa) - More than 173 million select coffee seedlings have been prepared for transplantation in South Ethiopia Peoples' State, the state agriculture bureau said.

The bureau told ENA on Tuesday that 80 per cent of the stated number of seedlings are nurtured on farmers' plots.

It said the seedlings will be transplanted on 24,000 hectares land.

The number of the seedlings has increased by 60 million compared to that of last year, the bureau said.

Various activities are underway to preserve organic coffee, the bureau said.

Special attention is given to Specialty Coffee , which has great market demand, it said, adding, relevant training has been given to model farmers in Sidama and Gedeo Zones of the state in collaboration with the Jimma Agricultural Research Center.

More than 2.4 million Specialty Coffee seedlings secured from the center have been transplanted, it said.

Coffee trees on 1949 hectares land were also pruned during the current Ethiopian year with a view to increasing productivity, it said.