Coffee grower wants fair deal through fair trade

from The Shoreline Beacon

By Rob Rombouts
Canadian farmers face difficulty achieving fair prices for their products, often unable to cover the cost of production.

Halfway around the world, coffee growers in Ethiopia face far harsher conditions.
Selling through conventional means, coffee growers receive only one U.S. dollar for a pound of their product.

Many Ethiopian farmers work only two acres of land and live on less than $1 a day.
While this situation may seem insurmountable, there is a group attempting to improve the lot of Ethiopian coffee farmers.

The Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Societies Union (OCFCSU) represents more than 600,000 farmers. The union works to sell coffee directly to roasters in Canada, the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia, bypassing the middleman, and bringing more money directly into the hands of the farmers.

OCFCSU manager Tadesse Meskela visited It’s All Good in Port Elgin Sept. 13.
The stop was part of a tour organized by Planet Bean Coffee, a gourmet coffee roastery in Guelph, to educate people about the importance of buying fair trade coffee.

Fair trade products help improve the situation of farmers and their families by ensuring they are paid a decent price for their products.

The minimum price of fair trade products reflects the true value of farm labour. Through fair trade organizations such as TransFair Canada, direct trading relationships are established.

Most fair trade products come from democratically-organized co-operatives of small producers, like the OCFCSU.

Meskela grew up on a farm in Ethiopia and studied agriculture. After completing school, he committed himself to work to change the life of farmers, founding the union in 1999.

The organization began with 2,000 farmers and soon expanded.

The profits that once went to the middlemen now go directly to the farmers and since 2002, $2.5 million in dividends have been returned, Meskela said.

The union also works to develop the infrastructure of the growing areas.
Since its founding, it has constructed 27 clean water supplied centres, five elementary schools, two secondary schools and five health centres.

Bill Barrett of Planet Bean said the roastery works to develop a close connection between the growers and the final consumers.

“When you buy coffee from a cafe like It’s All Good, the money is directly connected to the farmers,” he said.

“It’s important that consumers know that good change can come simply by having a cup of coffee, something they do everyday.

“This is not aid or a charity, it’s a business relationship,” Barrett said.
In 2002, the price for coffee sold through conventional means was 38 U.S. cents/pound. By 2003, this had increased to 60 U.S. cents/pound, Meskela said.
Selling through fair trade, however, farmers received $1.41 U.S./pound in 2003. This has increased to around $1.85 U.S./pound.

While Meskela said this increase is good, it is still too low. For Ethiopian coffee farmers to live comfortably, they need a minimum of $4 U.S./pound.

He said the union focuses on improving the quality of the product, ensuring the consumers trust the coffee.

All the coffees are also organic and shade-grown, he said, which preserves trees and reduces the environmental impact.

Barrett said knowledge of the fair trade option is growing. While only about one per cent of all coffee sold in Canada is fair trade, the actual numbers have increased substantially.

In 2000, only 150,000 kilos of fair trade coffee sold in Canada.
In 2005, this increased to 1.3 million kilos.

Barrett said when Canadian farmers, or Canadians in general, drink coffee they should reflect on where it came from, just as consumers of Canadian agricultural products should reflect on the situation of Canadian farmers.

He said farmers from around the world should work together, but too often they get caught up in fights with each other over subsidies.

In Saugeen Shores, coffee from Meskela’s union is available at It’s All Good in Port Elgin and the Cook’s Cupboard in Southampton.

Meskela’s work, and the difficulties faced by coffee growers, are documented in the film Black Gold by Nick and Mark Francis.

Black Gold is available to borrow through the Bruce County Public Library.