Peter d’Angremond of Max Havelaar Foundation discusses the impact of the price crash and what we must do now to protect coffee farmers. PAIBOC Purpose: rise awareness of how Ethiopian coffee farmers are being exploited Audience: coffee consumers and buyers Information: facts described in the black gold documentary Benefits: get more people to know and buy products with the fair-trade certification. “Look at this tight belt – it holds my stomach in and helps avoid hunger pangs”, said Wanjiru, pointing towards her waist. Improved coffee plant varieties remain out of reach for too many farmers, the adoption of better processing techniques has been slow, and the rising potential for disease and weather shocks due to climate change is leaving farmers increasingly vulnerable. But in Ethiopia the benefits for small coffee farmers haven’t been as significant as may be widely perceived. These amounts are crucial for African producers from several countries where coffee is their major exporting product. Officials, Plantation Owners, Tech Companies and Funding Agencies to Attend 6th Commercial Farm Africa in ... EU-African task force proposes new way ahead for African rural development, Kenya moves closer to goal of 100% renewable energy generation by 2030, Using internet technology to improve cage fish farming, China’s pig farmers plan to produce mega hog-farms to meet demands of world’s biggest pork market. Colonial plantations, labor extracted from small-scale farmers via harsh quotas—every coffee-growing community I’ve visited to has their own story of what this crop has meant to them in the long history of European conquest. “I am poor, hungry, and shoeless. Inequality isn’t a new thing in the long, dark history of coffee. NAIROBI, 28 July 2020 – Millions of family farmers across Africa are facing economic devastation as coffee prices offered to them continue to be on a downward trajectory, often below production costs. It also gives them the knowledge and incentive to take control of the market and harvest at the right time, maximizing return profit. Daily Coffee News by Roast magazine provides essential only news and resources for specialty coffee professionals. Fax: 086 678 6956 Ethiopian coffee farmers are "on the front lines of climate change," says Aaron Davis, a scientist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London, and one of the study's authors. Starbucks and Ethiopian Coffee: The Bitter Taste of Exploitation . Ethiopian Coffee Expressions Perhaps one of the clearest reflections of coffee's role in Ethiopian culture is in its language. Farmers’ shares in the roasted coffee value chain are higher outside of Africa with India’s coffee growers getting 15.7% in India and 14.9% in Brazil. Developed & Maintained by: Arobia Creative Consultancy, The Conditions That Enable A Low-Risk, Worthwhile, Investment In Agriculture, Food security, agriculture, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), crucial for Africa’s post-COVID-19 recovery, IBM offers digital training to agriculture start-ups through its D4Ag initiative, AfDB grants Burundi’s PADCAE-B US $20.55m to enhance climate resilience of farmers, IFAD joins with partners to build resilience and boost development in the Sahel, Now is the Time for Partnership to Transform Africa’s Cocoa Industry, Agriculture’s 3rd quarter 2020 GDP outcomes still impressive, TOMRA Food merges best-in-class engineering and intelligence with launch of the TOMRA 5C, CNH Industrial wins Brazilian innovation award, Experts urge Kenyan smallholder farmers to embrace nature-based food production, Kenya, AfDB commits US $18m to engage youth in agribusiness, Zimbabwean government to avail US $577m in dipping chemicals to mitigate livestock losses, LEGUMBRES SELECTAS SIERRA NEVADA: Quality and food safety ensured by the TOMRA Food Nimbus BSI+, How Africa can become the breadbasket of the world. African coffee farmers […] The price for Arabica coffee beans has plummeted in recent weeks to below production costs, jeopardising the livelihoods of 25 million coffee farming families worldwide. https://www.selinawamucii.com/african-coffee-farmers-are-losing-billions-every-year-from-exploitative-prices/, The Agrifocus African Markets Magazine and the www.agrifocusafrica.com Online Portal are registered and published under Lothbrok Media, A devision of The Lothbrok Group. All Rights Reserved. The machine that Bext360 created allows farmers to know the value of their crop, and avoid exploitation from coffee companies. Africa’s Coffee Farmers Are Losing Billions to Exploitation Ethiopian farmers are not the only sufferers, though. The report gives a most-recent and ground-up perspective on how Africa’s coffee farmers are exploited to death, in an industry that makes billions of dollars every year. www.lothbrokmedia.com, Zambia 5 The Ferns, 364 Pretoria Avenue, Randburg, South Africa, 2194, Tell : +27 67 212 7565 This is according to the Misery at the Farm: Africa’s Coffee Farmers are Losing Billions to Exploitation report just released by Selina Wamucii. For Wanjiru Kariuki, a 68-year old coffee farmer from Othaya, about 120 kilometers north of Nairobi, Kenya, she ponders how as a coffee grower can be so poor while profits for multinational coffee dealers increase year after year. Specialty coffee in Ethiopia is grown on over four million small plots of land by an estimated 600,000 independent farmers spread throughout the country in remote areas. on Ethiopian coffee farmers an d consists of three sections. Anything else is pure tokenism that seeks to buy time.” concludes Mr. Oroko. Which is going to grant the possibilities to Ethiopian farmers to get a better life quality. Arabica coffee originated in Ethiopia, and consumers know the country for its Yirgacheffe, Sidamo and Harar bean varieties. Due to unfair trade terms, Ethiopian and Ugandan coffee farmers are estimated to lose 713.1 million USD and 229.7 million USD respectively in one year alone. Due to unfair trade terms, lost earnings yearly for Ethiopian farmers are 713.1 million USD and 229.7 million USD for farmers in Uganda; It is estimated that African coffee farmers are losing $1.47 billion every year from exploitative pricing of their crops. The African farmer produces some fine quality coffee, but receives the lowest prices of all growers, globally. Coffee farmers receive 7-10 percent of the retail price of coffee sold in supermarkets12. The page you are looking for has not been found. Minten says that “If a coffee farmer in Ethiopia were to market all 400 kilograms of their red cherries (coffee fruit) as VSS certified…their income would increase by a mere $6.7” which is about 184 Ethiopian Birrs. Enter your email address and name below to be the first to know. Production in 2017/18 reached 416,580 tonnes, with steady growth occurring nearly every year since 2002. Want to be notified when our article is published? Coffee now costs more to grow and pick than it … Although Ethiopian coffees such as Sidamo and Harrar are named after specific regions, all of it is not produced in the same region under the same circumstances. “The only feasible solution is the establishment of a quota-based, International Coffee Agreement, that sets export quotas and helps steer the price and makes it possible for farmers to live from the proceeds of their hard work,” says Mr. Oroko. Supply Chain 4.0 – What is next for digital solutions in Agritech? 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