Coffee is rapidly supplanting tea as the UK’s drink of choice. The speciality coffee scene has exploded. More and more entrepreneurs are roasting beans in the UK and opening cafes as consumers demand their favourite lattes and flat whites out and about and at home too. Sales of coffee pods are sky-rocketing. But as the Fatcat Wednesday campaign showed, the value of billion dollar industries rarely trickles down to workers, let alone the 125 million people worldwide who depend on producing coffee for their livelihood.
And that’s what matters most to us at Fairtrade. We want consumers’ love of coffee to benefit the farmers and workers who produce it. Fairtrade coffee is grown in 30 countries, and we work with 812,500 farmers representing 445 Fairtrade certified coffee producer organisations. These organisations earned an estimated €49m (£42.8m) in Fairtrade Premiums that they invested in their businesses and communities.
But overall, many coffee producers around the world have reached crisis point. Fairtrade Foundation analysis has found that in Kenya’s coffee growing regions, one in three people live in poverty and farmers have grown desperate. Globally, climate change is a threat to all producers. Aside from erratic weather, pests and diseases which damage crops, 50% of the world’s coffee producing land will disappear by 2050 (pdf).
In 2016, international coffee prices often did not cover the costs of production, and were below Fairtrade’s Minimum Price. On top of this volatility, many reports emerged last year of workers on coffee plantations being exploited, experiencing labour abuses and denied basic employment rights.
The Fairtrade Standards include robust protections and rules on workers’ rights, prices and the environment. By following these rules, producer organisations gain protection, have access to an international market and receive an extra cash payment, the Fairtrade Premium, on top of the Fairtrade Minimum Price. But, as this is the time for New Year resolutions, Fairtrade wants to go further - this year we plan to increase our campaigning efforts to advocate on behalf of farmers and workers.
Our ambitions in 2017 are linked to our strategy, launched last year. It describes working with businesses in new ways to deliver additional programmes for farming communities when they desperately need help. For example, after 75% of the coffee crops in Guatemala were destroyed by the devastating coffee plant disease La Roya, the Fairtrade Foundation announced, with Percol Coffee, funding to support, train and empower farmers. The Coffee Trust ran the project, which sought to help communities find ways to combat the disease by planting resistant crops, using organic methods and sharing that knowledge across the region.
This year, for our two-week campaign Fairtrade Fortnight, we’ll be encouraging consumers to put Fairtrade in their breaks. We will also be welcoming coffee producer Leonard Faustine Zimbehya Kachebonaho from Tanzania to talk to UK businesses and industry leaders.
Leonard is one of the founders of Kaderes Peasants Development Plc (KPD), located in the north-west highlands of Karagwe, Tanzania. The sub-tropical climate, heavy rains and rich volcanic soils provide some of the most perfect conditions for coffee cultivation, and the locals depend on the crop. Yet they struggled with production and could not afford to improve their farms as they were getting a pittance for their coffee. Leonard and some fellow farmers decided to join Fairtrade - they wanted to empower producers and help their members fight poverty by cultivating high quality organic coffee in a sustainable manner.
Now Fairtrade-certified, the co-operative supports farmers to improve productivity and quality so they receive better prices. The organisation aims to provide all members with access to modern agricultural equipment and adequate storage facilities. The Fairtrade Premium is being used to set up learning centres and demonstration plots to support farmers with technical training. KPD members have also used the extra cash from Fairtrade, on top of the payment for crops, to build a coffee factory. They aim to strengthen and develop the business to increase its bargaining power, access credit and financial services, and provide loans to farmers.
Like in many rural areas, accessing health and education services is extremely challenging, as there is no local government-funded provision and there is a severe lack of medical care. So, they have also invested Premium funds in a local school and dispensary.
Fairtrade has made huge strides in helping communities like Leonard’s to improve the local economy. Even though we’ve achieved a great deal, there is still a long way to go. We need an industry-wide effort to ensure everyone involved in coffee production is getting a decent deal, whether through prices or wages. We encourage businesses to reach out to us and work with us on this, and to start taking responsibility for the livelihoods of the millions of farmers who are crucial to the long-term sustainability of coffee.
As January gets underway, I’d like all of us to resolve to do our bit to tackle the specific and significant challenges facing the producers behind our favourite beverage. We’re ready to collaborate to end exploitation and get producers a greater share of this lucrative business – and everyone working in coffee needs to take this seriously.
If we don’t, this drink we all adore could leave a bitter taste in our mouths. Let’s not have any regrets - let’s take action today.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2017 will run from 27 February until 12 March. This year the campaign’s message is, “Don’t feed exploitation. Put Fairtrade in your break.” For more information about the campaign and how to get involved, click here.
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