As climate change continues to affect temperature and rainfall patterns, coffee farmers in southern Peru are becoming more vulnerable to water stress.
Matthew Algie, a coffee roasting company, and its partners are part of a two-year project, running until June 2015, to help 146 coffee farmers introduce adaptation strategies.
The project began with £44,000 investment and a partnership between M&S, Matthew Algie, an ethical trading organisation Twin, the San Juan Del Oro co-operative and a Peruvian employment and training fund called Fondoempleo. It has recently been extended with £19,000 from the UK Fairtrade Foundation and Matthew Algie.
The project promotes water conservation to secure more sustainable coffee supplies from the co-operative and improve farmers’ livelihoods at the same time. By encouraging better water stewardship the project is also improving farmers’ health and sanitation.
The co-operative produces triple certified (Fairtrade, Organic and Rainforest Alliance) arabica coffee beans so project partners can be sure that farms adhere to strong social, environmental and economic best practice.
Hampered by an outbreak of coffee leaf rust or “roya” which led to a catastrophic loss of production and income for the co-operative, the project is now back on track. The hope is that it can be scaled-up and rolled out across Peru.
