Established in 1981, CAMAL represents the interests of both large and small holder coffee producers in Malawi. CAMAL members produce and market the majority of the coffee exported from the warm heart of Africa, of which 100% is Arabica coffee.

Malawi coffee is meticulously processed and graded, using internationally approved standards and quality control measures to provide a high quality offering.

Relatively unknown, Malawi coffee has of recent times made extensive developments in quality control, throughout from coffee producing (from harvest to green bean), in the brewing and cupping thereof and finally in packaging and marketing. This revolution has resulted in the emergence of an exciting, fresh, flavourful cup that can be compared with the finest of East African Coffees.

Why have CAMAL?

The Coffee Association of Malawi is mandated to develop and implement growing, processing and marketing initiatives that directly contributes to a growing and profitable coffee industry in Malawi.

How do we achieve this?

CAMAL has developed a Coffee Sector Road Map which is being implemented through Coffee Action Group (CAG). Following the guidelines of the Road map, CAMAL was successful in recruiting Mr. Peter Njikho (left), as the CAMAL Coffee Executive. Peter has been with CAMAL since 16th January 2007 and despite being thrown in the deep end has become a valuable member of the CAMAL team. Peter still has a lot to learn in the coffee world but has already become involved in all aspects of coffee. You will see Peter sitting at a cupping table on a Saturday cupping session! Definitely a first for CAMAL!

Peter also created the first CAMAL newsletter that is released on a quarterly basis.The CAG has also translated the Road Map into actions some of which include:

Coffee Promotion and Marketing:

Quality Control

CAMAL has put in place a Quality Control Committee (QCC) that makes sure all the coffee exported meets the international grading standards.

Cupping and Training

In October 2006, CAMAL was pleased to welcome a training team from Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA) and the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) for a cupping training workshop and the national coffee cupping competition.

At about this time, CAMAL also had Malawi’s first Coffee Safari, which was fully sponsored by EAFCA. Both visitors on the safari were South African Sarah Robinson of Bean There Coffee in Johannesburg and Joel Singer of Origin Coffee in Cape Town.

Both Sarah and Joel thoroughly enjoyed their stay and participated actively in all CAMAL operations. Both of their coffee companies have lately shown considerable increase in coffee volumes imported into South Africa. Although their companies are relatively small and will not be buying many containers of Malawi coffees, they still do promote the coffees of each African producer country that they buy from and this translated into great exposure for CAMAL.

For the training, CAMAL mobilized 21 coffee growers and 2 coffee roasters, who benefited greatly in terms of skills and knowledge gained from the professional coffee trainers. At the end of the training, all participants were presented with certificates of achievement from EAFCA.

The national coffee cupping competition was held immediately after the training. The coffee samples presented were cupped and judged by the two coffee safari visitors and a panel of judges selected from the best of the trainees. The best 5 coffees were chosen and recognized.

Interesting to note is that the EAFCA / CQI training team reported that the organization levels of CAMAL were the best out of all the other countries that they had visited for the training and cupping competitions.

Coffee Brewing Courses

To ensure quality coffee is served in all the outlets in Malawi, CAMAL has set out to work with all hotels, restaurants and other hospitality and tourism industry stakeholders where coffee is served, to help them meet the internationally recommended standards of coffee brewing.

Coffee clubs

CAMAL has a monthly schedule whereby members and non members (members of the general public) converge at a chosen coffee shop (hotel, restaurant etc.) to sample the coffees after which a technical feedback is given to the host regarding the taste, quality, service etc. We have so far been to Mount Soche and Ryalls hotels.

International affiliation

On the international scene, CAMAL is a fully paid up member of the Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA) from which CAMAL reaps invaluable benefits such as training, international trade exposure through conferences and exhibitions and general publicity.

Website

A CAMAL website will be launched by mid October 2007. The proposed name for the site is www.coffeemw.com.

Production and productivity improvement:

Field Management Practices

CAG visits CAMAL members periodically to assess their needs and plan their activities around those needs. Activities such as field days and bulk input purchases are organized to address the needs identified. CAMAL also looks at improving production through use of varieties of coffee that are high yielding and resistant to diseases. CAMAL is currently working out possibilities of collaborating with institutions in other countries that have done a lot of research and benefited from it.

Other Developments

CAMAL’s Chairman has successfully negotiated a 3 months sponsorship program with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) representative in Malawi, Mr. Jan Willem de Broek. UNDP will partner CAMAL in a project called Growing Sustainable Business in Poverty Reduction and will have the proposal of promoting Malawi coffees to world wide buyers and looking at the proposition of developing a Malawi Brand of Coffee for both local consumption and export.

This is in conjunction with the Smallholder Coffee Farmers Trust (SCFT) and will look a t the possibilities of creating a blend of the best coffees in Malawi. This project will aim increasing both domestic consumption and export to supermarket stores in Europe. This project is currently underway.

Average prices for Malawi coffee in 2006 were significantly higher than in the recent years, surely a result of the improved post harvest management, attention to detail and the determination by the growers to improve quality. We do know that some growers have sold specialty coffee this season.

As a result of our exposure we have seen a considerable increase in the numbers of international coffee visitors to Malawi such as David Roche of CQI, USA and Craig Holt of Atlas Coffee in USA. They were involved in coffee cupping in Mzuzu and made presentations at the Malawi First Coffee Industry meeting held in Lilongwe recently.

Other visitors include Alessio Colussi of Illycafe, Italy, Hanne Meijer, of Woolf Coffee, Holland and Sarah Kotzen of W M Cahn, South Africa. They all visited CAMAL and attended a coffee cupping session organized by CAG before their departure.

CAMAL is now expecting a visit from Alan Furness of Volcafe, Switzerland who is involved in sourcing high quality coffees from Africa for Starbucks.

This year, CAMAL has also managed to assist growers in bulk purchases of fertilizers and sacks, ensuring cost savings and standardization of inputs. This is expected to contribute to quality improvement.

As noted at the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Conference & Exhibition held in Long Beach, California, USA, “Demand for specialty coffee is expected to increase to 9.4 million bags by 2022 and Africa is seen as the biggest potential to source this coffee.”

Therefore, it is our target in Malawi to get the biggest possible slice of this cake, despite our small potential in total production. It is a challenge but we are determined to take on this challenge for the benefit of all in Malawi by striving even more in all aspects related to coffee quality.

To find out how to get your hands on a heart warming cup of Malawi’s finest or for further information please contact:

PETER NJIKHO,
Technical & Marketing Executive

Coffee Association of Malawi (CAMAL),
Kidney Crescent,
P. O. Box 930, Blantyre, Malawi.
Tel: +265 (0) 1871 182 / 355
Fax: +265 (0) 1 871 427
E-mail: camal@malawi.net, taml@malawi.net

See previous Members of the Month:

December 2007

November 2007

October 2007

September 2007

August 2007