Registering a GI in coffee from Mont Ziama, Guinée

Brussels Briefing n. 31
Geography of food: reconnecting with origin in the food
system
15th May 2013
http://brusselsbriefings.net
Lessons learned from the process of registering a GI
in coffee from Mont Ziama, Guinée
Marie Antoinette Haba, Ministry of Agriculture,
Guinea

Support Project for the Implementation of
Geographical Indications for OAPI
(PAMPIG)
ZIAMA-MACENTA COFFEE
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IN
TERMS OF GEOGRAPHICAL
INDICATIONS
Presented by: Mrs SANOUSSI Marie Antoinette HABA, focal point
Geographical Indications
Briefing ‘Reconnecting with origins in the food system’, Brussels 15 May 2013 2

I. The importance of GI
 African countries possess an important agricultural and agrifood
biodiversity potential. These products, the quality of which is
closely linked to their origins, are identified with the regional
names they come from.
 Our countries’ current vulnerable economy forces us to explore
new opportunities in developing their products. Geographical
Indication is a tool that allows typical quality products to benefit
from legal protection in reference to geographical origin.
 Bearing in mind all these issues and the important potential of
typical quality products abundant in our countries, numerous
initiatives have come about in Africa, within the framework of
technical partnerships such as the technical support from the
African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), F AO and
other technical partners.

II. Initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa
 FAO initiatives
In 2002, the FAO set up a ‘Trust Fund for Food Security and Food Safety’
and in 2006, the Italian Cooperation, via its Directorate General for
Development Cooperation (DGCS), within the framework of this Fund,
decided to finance a number of projects on food safety and the
valorization of agricultural products via transformation and
commercialization in 7 West African countries: Gambia, Guinea,
Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Some results:
 Setting-up of regional workshops;
 Development of support tools;
 Development of 23 case studies in different parts of the world, and in
particular 5 in Africa: Tea in Rwanda, Rice in Kovie (Togo), Violet from
Galmi (Niger), Shallot from the Dogon Country (Mali), Honey from
Casamance (Senegal).

II. Initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa (continued)
 Guide for promoting quality linked to origins and sustainable
geographical indications: ‘Territories, products, local
stakeholders: links to quality’ broadcast in several countries and
within workshops.
 Many projects with the research network SinerGI and technical
cooperation projects in North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia) and in
Sub-Saharan Africa (Mali, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Guinea Bissau,
Republic of Guinea). Another project is under way in Benin.
 In Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone and in
collaboration with Slow Food, the sub-regional project for the
promotion of local products in order to preserve food tradition
and biodiversity is being developed.

 OAPI initiatives
 The African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) currently
includes 16 countries.
 To all Member States, OAPI is the common office for Intellectual
Property.
 It is governed by the Bangui Agreement of 1999, which is its
common law.
 Procedure is centralized: all presentation to OAPI bears the value
of national presentation in each Member State
•Mali
•Burkina Faso
•Cameroon
•Central African Republic
•Congo
•Ivory Coast
•Gabon
•Guinea
•Guinea Bissau
•Mauritania
•Niger
•Senegal
•Chad
•Togo

 OAPI possesses a protection framework, specially designed for GI,
via its Appendix VI, which defines GI as ‘[...] indications that serve
to identify a product as originating from a certain territory in a
region or a locality of said territory, in the case whereby a quality,
reputation or any other determining characteristic of the product
can be essentially attributable to that geographical origin’.
 OAPI avails these States with a sui generis system, characterized
by the producers recording the name, this recording thereby
creating exclusive rights to the former to use the name for
commercial purposes. The GI is protected as such and from then
on, can no longer be used by third parties even if the true origin of
the product is used by a counterfeiter, used in another language or
yet, slightly distorted by using words relocating said product.

III. Why start a pilot project on GI?
Findings:
1. Since the coming into effect of the Bangui Agreement of 1977
revised in 1999, OAPI has not received any application for
registration of products originating from its Member States,
despite the existence of ‘informal’ African geographical
indications that greatly contribute to the socio-economic wealth
of the territories where they are anchored;
3. The official recognition of geographical indications (GI) would
both recognize and protect their heritage and allow many
products to assert their identity, to structure economic
organizations and to develop added value;
 Bearing this in mind, in 2000, the OAPI Member States decided
to implement a pilot project on geographical indications as tools
for local development.

IV. History
1. 2000
- Birth of the idea for a pilot project / Conakry Workshop /
OMPI,INAO,INPI,OAPI
2. From 2001 to 2003
- choice of four pilot countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory
Coast, Guinea);
- training in France of pilot countries’ managers (INAO);
- involvement proposal to Ministries of Agriculture.
3. Framing the Project/INPI, MAE,MAP,OMPI/ 2003 - 2004
- seeking OAPI and its Member States via an approach initiation
bases on concrete product examples;
- Expert mission by INAO and CIRAD in the pilot countries
- naming of GI focal points

IV. History (continued)
4. Preparation for the Ministerial meeting on the fringes of the
CA / OAPI 25th session in Ouagadougou in 2005
 Presentation of focal points;
 Continued product identifying;
 Shaping of pilot countries’ focal points;
5. Ministerial meeting on the fringes of the CA / OAPI 25th
session in Ouagadougou in 2005
 Adoption of a 4-year plan of action for GI;
 Adoption of the declaration of Ouagadougou on GI in order to set
up National Committees and find the necessary funding
6. Funding request proposal submitted to financial donors in
2006
7. 2008, Signature of PAMPIG funding convention between
OAPI/AFD

V. Support Project to GI Implementation (PAMPIG)
General objectives of PAMPIG
 The purpose of the PROJECT is to support members of OAPI
in conquering niche markets through Geographical
Indications States, and thus contribute to rural development
by improving and securing the earnings of the producers
involved.
The project specifically aims to:
1. Assist producers of the Member States in an identification
and recognition exercise of domestic products eligible for
Geographical Indications;
2. Contribute to OAPI capacity building and national public
and private partners to ensure the promotion and protection
of Geographical Indications.

VI. Components of PAMPIG
Component 1
•Project management
•training in developing
specifications and
procurement;
•OAPI executives were
trained, including the
project manager.
Component 2
•Technical assistance
•Support for pilot products
•Call for new products
proposal
•Annual regional workshops
•Regional actions

VI. Components of PAMPIG (continued)
 COMPONENT 2
1. Technical assistance
- recruitment March - April 2010
- support the starting-up, review of the plan of action,
validation and implementation (permanent mission – 4
months);
- remote support (remote ad-hoc missions , travelling) .
2. Support for pilot products
- Oku white honey (Cameroon);
- Penja pepper (Cameroon);
- Korhogo cloth (Ivory Coast);
- Ziama Macenta coffee (Guinea).

VI. Components of PAMPIG (continued)
 COMPONENT 2
3. Support for pilot products
- identifying stakeholders and sector diagnosis;
- raising awareness with producers, building structures;
- support in the preparation of specifications, defining the
geographical area, development of methods of control,
marketing and promotion strategy;
- Building a case for GI.
4. Call for new products proposal
110 products reported including 79 with usable data, a
dozen (12) providing enough information
to possibly justify a more in-depth approach.

VII. Support for Ziama-Macenta Coffee
 OAPI and CIRAD support mission in August 2010
 Structuring of a national system (GI National Committee)
 Strengthening the capacity of national stakeholders, presentation of
PAMPIG action plan and the level of implementation
 Sector diagnosis and identifying Ziama-Macenta stakeholders and
alongside them, validating a plan of action for the recognition of
this pilot product in terms of GI.
 Launch of a tender in 2011 by OAPI
 Characterization of the sector and the product, raising awareness
with the stakeholders,
 organization of the group representing GI,
 Organization of missions and work by international experts,
 Establish a control plan and a marketing strategy,
 Develop and validate the approach, the specifications, the
delimitation, the control system and marketing strategy with the
group representative of the GI
Briefing ‘Reconnecting with origins in the food system’, Brussels 15 May 2013
15

VII. Support for Ziama-Macenta Coffee (continued)
 Choice by IRAM - Institut de Recherches et
d'Applications des Méthodes de Développement
(Institute for research and application in development
methods)
Implementation support in partnership with:
 MGE- Maison guinéenne de l’entrepreneur (Guinean
entrepreneurs association)
 lRAG- Institut de recherche agronomique de
Guinée (Guinean Agricultural Research Institute)
 ANPROCA- Agence nationale pour la promotion du conseil
agricole (National Agency Promoting Rural and Agricultural
Consulting)

VIII. Results
 Sector stakeholders for Ziama-Macenta coffee are
identified
 Groups representative of the Ziama-Macenta coffee GI are
established : ADECAM is created 26th July 2012
 Instructors and producers are trained
 in running a coffee-plantation and post-harvest treatments;
 In basic accounting tools, inventory tracking, material tracking;
 Production zones are determined and characterized
 A control system is established and validated by the GI
Association
 Ziama-Macenta coffee specifications are established,
validated by the GI Association
 A commercial strategy for the GI Association for Ziama-
Macenta coffee is established alongside with, that year, a contract to
export 40 tons of coffee to P. Jobin & Cie

IX. Product characteristics
 GI applicant
ADECAM – Association de défense du café Ziama-Macenta
(Association for the defense of Z-M coffee)
Address: Macenta
President: M. Sidiki CAMARA
 Product name
Café Ziama-Macenta (Z-M coffee)
 Nature of the product
It is a Robusta coffee.
The coffee comes from exclusively Robusta clones or hybrids;
therefore both traditional varieties and clones (119, 477, 529
et 594)
These are plantations with an upper stratum providing shade on
all plots

IX. Product characteristics (continued)
Ziama-Macenta coffee has features much closer to those of an
Arabica coffee:
 The prepared drink has a tangy and slightly bitter flavor, a strong, fine and
persistent aroma.
 Grain density is determined at humidity factors of 12%. Due to the slow
growth of the berries, the grains are particularly dense.
 The green coffee is sold in jute bags inscribed with ‘Ziama-Macenta coffee
Geographical Indication’ and a label with the name and logo of the GI
Association, the reference numbers of the producers and the date of
packaging sewn onto the bag.
13 19
State of
product
Shape Size and density Color Smell
Green
coffee
Half-
circle
Slightly
tapered
Grade
s
Density Yellow,
green and
yellow-
green
(brown)
Green (raw)
coffee flavored
smell
G1 700 to
710
g/dm3
0,9 to 1,5 g
G2 0,6 to 1 g

X. Geographical area
 Municipalities found in the geographical area in the immediate
vicinity of the forest perimeter of the Ziama mountain, with a
strong influence on microclimate through high cloudiness
associated with heavy rainfall, cloud cover and high altitude
combined with low temperatures;
 The GI area for Ziama-Macenta coffee is located in the Macenta
prefecture and the municipalities of Daro, Fassankoni,
Kouankan, Macenta, N'Zébéla, Orémai, Ségbédou, Sérédou and
Vassérédou (107 villages). With an elongated shape to the
North-South over a length of 78 km and 55 km wide on the
East-West side, with longitudes ranging between 9 ° and 10 °
west and between 8 ° and 9 ° north in latitude; Cherry
production area is within the scope of influence of the forest of
Mount Ziama;
 Total surface area of 360,200 ha, including the Ziama forest
reserve;

X. Geographical area (continued)

X. Geographical area (end)
 Potential arable and farming land, besides forest reserve, is 220
700 ha;
 Vegetation dominated by a dense rain forest and/or secondary
forest
 Ferrallitic brown forest soils with a dense canopy resting on a
granite substrate with dolerite intrusions
 Number of days of rain spread over nine months from 260 to
280 days, with a total rainfall of 2000-3000 mm / annum;
 Average temperature of 25 ° C, average relative humidity levels
of 80%, altitude = or> to 450 m <.

XI. Links to origins
 All operations take place within the geographical area
(planting, harvesting, sorting, drying, packaging, storage of
coffee ‘shells’, hulling, winnowing, sorting commercial coffee,
grading, bagging of commercial coffee);
 Prior commitment from licensed operators in the industry to
produce and market Ziama-Macenta coffee with the GI
Association and recording with the GI Association and the
inspection body;
 Traceability system to know the volumes produced and sold
during the various industry stages according to internal and
external audit lists to be kept for two years and be available
for consultation at all times;
 Products placed in 60 kg jute bags, labeled by downstream
operators responsible for bagging;
23

XII. Product reputation
 The botanical species Coffea canephora, the Robusta was
discovered in West Africa between Uganda and Guinea. Some
varieties were discovered in Forest Guinea and the Macenta
region and developed during the colonial period. According to
the testimony of elders, collectors spent much time in Macenta
to increase the quality of their mixture. Macenta Coffee thus
acquired a reputation among importers and roasters during
this period.
 To this day, the coffee from this area of Macenta is used to
enhance the base note of coffees from other parts of the
country and Ivory Coast. Senegalese traders, great Robusta
coffee consumers, recognize the superior quality of Macenta
coffee, which they place ahead of ‘Ivory Coast’ quality and that
of other regions of Forest Guinea .

XIII. Specifications
COMMITMENT
 Operators who have signed a contract with the GI Association
can produce, process, sell GI Ziama-Macenta coffee
 Production plots are those located within the GI defined area
 Origins: must be coffees deriving from clones or hybrids that
are exclusively Robusta and traditional varieties (local
cultivars) and introduced clones: clones 119, 477, 529, 588 and
594. Plantations must not, in any case, include the species
Excelsa and Liberica.
 Shading: Plantations are managed under the shade produced
by trees in the upper stratum of native species, possibly
legumes, providing continuous shading to the entire plot.
25

XIII. Specifications (continued)
 Shading: Farmers whose plots do not meet this criterion,
have 5 years as of the date of commitment to plant the suitable
species of their choice.
 Maintenance: Regularly pruned Coffea (suckering, pruning,
pruning of dead wood) in order to obtain plants that are
aerated , balanced and built on 3-4 branches.
 Weeding: Plots that are cleared regularly in order to obtain a
low ground cover by spontaneous vegetation or by the
introduction of ameliorative plants. The use of herbicides is
prohibited in order to preserve the quality and adhere to the
principles of organic soil fertility.
 Renewal: Renewal of plants that are too old is recommended,
either by coppicing or by planting seedlings.
26

 Fertilizer: Organic fertilization is recommended, either from
the recycling of vegetation produced on the plot, or from
imported organic matter such as manure, various plant waste,
compost, etc. ... Supplemented with mineral fertilizers is
recommended for seedlings
 Crop Protection: Use of natural insecticides is required, the
use of chemical insecticides is prohibited.
ADECAM has an obligation to educate and to provide natural
insecticides. Crop protection is achieved via preventive
measures (phytosanitary pruning, use of saws, ...), the use of
traps, repellents and the use of natural insecticides such as
those listed in Appendix * of the Specifications.
 Harvest date is set according to the villages and the criteria for
defining optimal maturity set by the association must be
respected.

 Harvest criteria:
28
•Only red cherries are picked in
several passages. Black, green or
those cherries that fell to the
ground should never be added to
those picked from the tree.
•Post-harvest sorting: - By
immersion where the dense
berries fall to the bottom of the
water and empty or incomplete
berries float to the surface and –
manually on racks, green,
fermented and over-ripe cherries
are eliminated

•In the sun, on racks
during 21 days, with 2 to 3
shakings a day, as per
harvesting.
•For a plantation of one
(1) ha, a rack of 20 m².
•The racks are put away
or covered with light
plastic sheeting in case of
rain or at night.
•Drying facilities

 Storage of coffee
 On the plantation: In husk form or green, in a room
protected from the rain, in new nylon bags, with no direct
contact with the ground, isolated from products other than
coffee, from any contaminants, and protected from insects
and rodents.
 The collector or processor: In husk form or green, in a
room protected from the rain and humidity, with no direct
contact with the ground or walls in order to allow for proper
ventilation.
 An area demarcated as ‘Ziama Macenta GI Coffee’ is set aside
in the room and the floors, walls and ceiling are cleaned
regularly. Records of this cleaning must be issued and filed.
 It is required to record all movement, those of the origins
and destination of all consignments.

 Transport
 Transport of coffee husks must never be associated with
any other product (chemical, fuel, oil, peanuts, etc. ...) and
must be provided by trucks with waterproof tarpaulin and
never transported with passengers or any other products.
 Cleaning
 Prior to transportation the truck must be thoroughly
cleaned; cleaning must be recorded and the results noting
the visual cleanliness and absence of any smells must be
documented
 Processing operations: Any transformation (sorter,
cleaner, calibrator ...) for Ziama Macenta coffee using
facilities must be preceded by a thorough and documented
cleaning, and the results filed.
31

 Traceability
 Registration: Each industry operator must keep a written
record of the consignment’s origin, its weight, its recipient,
the amount provided to the recipient, the date of entry (or
harvest) and the release date
 Identification: All coffee consignments, as soon as the
harvest takes place, should be identified as ‘Ziama Macenta
coffee’ and must bear their defined batch number (see
below)
 Number: All batches must have a number allowing to trace
back to the origin of any consignment
 Control system
 Operators may file a commitment declaration on their own
behalf, or as a member of a group with the GI Association.

 The Association examines the declaration and should it be
incomplete, it is returned within 15 days of reception.
 The Association then transfers the commitment to an
external certification body, which in turn reviews it. After
verification, any partial or total refusal must be justified
and must allow for the operator, within a period of 1
month, to provide any additional information needed.
 Upon favorable opinion by the external certification body,
any modification in the commitment declaration will entail
a new application.
 the operator is registered on the list of authorized operators
(as available from the GI Association, the external certifier
and the National GI Committee).

 Control relating to specifications and product control

 Self-monitoring: Any operator must perform self-checks on
their activities and keep, for two years, all documents
related to these self-checks
 Internal Control: Conducted by the GI Association staff or
internal committees having received an engagement letter
from the GI Association. The checklists are kept for two
years and must be available for perusal at any time by the
certifying body. The minutes must be prepared in two
copies, 1 for the operator, 1 for ADECAM.
 External control: Is conducted by the certifying body and
randomly onsite, at the request of importers. If necessary,
organoleptic tests are performed according to the protocol
defined by the IRAG.

XIV. GI File
The file for GI protection must be submitted to OAPI
and must include:
 Protection request from the GI Association
 GI Specifications
 Delimitation plan for the production area
 Control System
 Marketing Strategy
 Validation minutes from the National Committee

XV. PAMPIG Shortcomings
1. Delays in the implementation of institutions and
procedures (Member States);
2. Low government involvement in the process of
recognition and promotion of products;
3. Lack of technical support (testing and
certification, marketing);
4. An impaired product (Korhogo cloth).

XVI. Suggestions
1. Continued OAPI action in setting up Institutions and
procedures;
2. Continued awareness of stakeholders and authorities;
3. More GI visibility in SNL activities;
4. Strengthening the collaboration between SNL and focal
points in GI promotional activities at a national level;
5. Training of technicians towards the sustainability of the GI
process (structuring groups, process qualification,
certification, inspection for certification of products etc.);
6. Research funding support for new products.

XVII. Strategic Outlook
1. Establishment or strengthening in each Member
State of a control system for the use of GI
protected geographical names;
2. Implementation within the OAPI of an
examination system with regards applications for
GI registration content;
3. Implementation within the Organization of a
biennial training module on GI.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION

Registering a GI in coffee from Mont Ziama, Guinée

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