Pearce, Fred (2009). Confessions of an Eco Sinner: Travels to find where my stuff comes from. Eden Project Books.
The worth-reading Chapter 3 of this book (I've read its translation into Greek), entitled "Coffee: Throwing a Hand Grenade into the Cosy World of Fair Trade" refers to the production and trade of biological coffee beans in Tanzania, Africa. Sixty thousand small farmers in the area of Kilimanjaro produce coffee beans and through their about 100 co-operatives these are auctioned in the nearby Tanzanian town of Moshi (the capital of coffee in Tanzania).
Even though the international trading price for coffee beans is 1 euro, Pearce reports that these poor African farmers sell their biological coffee beans at the higher price of 1.15 euro for 1 pound (=454 grams) of coffee beans to "Fair Trade" firms such as Cafédirect, the sixth biggest brand name in Britain. One pound of Kilimanjaro coffee is sold in Britain 7.50 euro (i.e. 552% more expensive), a price that could feed a Tanzanian farmer's family for a week! Starbucks' revenue from selling 60 cups of coffee may be about 230euro while the small African farmers had sold it for less than 1.15 euro (19900%up!). Consequently, the farmers wonder: "Is this fair?"
Another small farmer manages to produce 3kg of very high quality biological coffee beans in a month and his revenue from this is about 6 euro.
One of the leaders of one co-operative cultivates 1400 coffee trees in his farm of 50.000sqare meters (about 12 acres), producing 300kgs of biological coffee beans annually. His revenue from this production of biological coffee beans is 750 euro annually. Pearce reports that their production is biological because they cannot afford expensive pesticides! Their fertiliser is biological manure from their cows. They mix the leaves of some sort of 'wild grass' with water to make a biological insecticide. These farmers are still poor and they struggle to make ends meet because of the low selling price of coffee beans.
I hope your students find a fairer way to produce and sell biological coffee, breaking-even or even at a profit. However, I doubt whether this will be possible when most of us, as consumers, are disillusioned convincing ourselves that we pay a fair price for coffee, offering the producers what they deserve... We want our ethics at a low price, as Pearce notes...
If you could contact Pearce himself, perhaps he could give you some contacting details of the knowledgeable named biological farmers (mentioned in his book).
Ioannis S. Panagopoulos
PhD in Industrial Psychology
e-mail: ianisp@talk21.com
Hello, I am a Management Professor at Oakland University. A group of my students and I are trying to contact someone who is knowledgeable about growing coffee organically. Might you or someone you know be able to help by answering a few quick questions? If this might be possible, contact me at simon@oakland.edu. It would really help my students pursue a social project they are passionate about.
This past August, with the support of Global Brigades, a student-led international organization, I supervised sixteen students, who provided business consulting and expertise to the Guacuco Guna community in the Darién region of Panamá. The villagers live in huts in extreme poverty. During their week in Panamá, the students learned about the community's current coffee business and aspirations. They were deeply moved by the community and its leaders' dreams to increase coffee production. The experience urged the students to continue making a difference, even after they returned to Michigan.
They are working tirelessly to develop a strategic business plan to alleviate the community's poverty by increasing coffee production. At this stage, they are attempting to contact experts in the coffee growing industry to better understand the process. Successfully pursuing their passion depends upon talking to people with industry specific knowledge.
If you or anyone you know is familiar with the industry (i.e. growing coffee, organics, maintaining coffee, or Robusta coffee) can you or they e-mail me (simon@oakland.edu), so my students might ask a few questions? I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much for your time.
--
Mark Simon
Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship
School of Business Administration
Oakland University
Rochester, MI 48309
(248) 370 3295 (Work)
(248) 370 4275 (Fax)