Page 51 - #60 English

Fair Pay find some way to have price indicators and price
standards. And this price has to be related not to de-
In coffee-growing communities around the world mand and supply, but to the real cost of production,”
families confront hunger on a yearly basis due to a says Jiahang Wu, Chief Representative for Greater
phenomenon known as, “los meses flacos,” or the thin China at Colombian Coffee Growers Federation.
months. As coffee is a seasonal crop, farmers get paid Setting faire price for everyone is the initiative
only once per year as they produce an actual product that several companies have already started: programs
only once per year. The rest of the time they are sup- such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance are also
posed to somehow manage their lives and interest in helping the industry to improve their minimum stan-
coffee, as same land that they use for coffee can be also dards and pushing to excel. These companies help to
used for any other products like corn, bananas etc.. bring more money back to the farmer and smallhold-
Private farms have more control of their destiny. They ers. They claim that coffee that they work with has
usually have access to credit, to finance the harvest. been cultivated, packaged, and delivered in a way that
They can also spread their shipments over a wider time protects the environment and supports social and
frame. The small scale farmers, if they are members of economic justice.
a coo-op can have 2 to 3 payments per year. At the same Also companies like DRWakefield, Alliance for
time, asking for an international buyer to pre-pay for a Coffee Excellence and Café Imports do the best they
crop which has not been harvested is asking them to can: DRWakefield have helped with various projects
take a big risk on production/yield, let alone having over the years with technical assistance, machinery
the coffee delivered. If you ask for pre-payments from and cash where required. DRW through the Café Fe-
the trader, you need to pass that along the supply chain, menino Program gives a financial incentive to women
ultimately asking the consumer to pre-pay for their cup who deliver coffee to cooperatives which is beneficial
of coffee in a shop. for them but most of all for their families. They
mainly invest money in the coffee plantations and in
the education of their children, it improves the way
they manage their revenue and it also helps them to
get a better coffee quality.Café Imports set long-
lasting relationship with the farmers providing pre-
financing to small producers who otherwise do not
have access to capital; Alliance for Coffee Excellence
has held auctions and competitions to find coffees
that deserve higher prices due to the quality and to
encourage roasters to properly value these excellent
examples of craft in coffee.

The Help

Addressing all these problems, The First World Coffee
Producers Forum opened its doors in the city of Medellin,
Colombia on July 12, 2017. Final Declaration of Coffee
Growers from all over the world stated that in face of un-
certain times for coffee industry there are several steps the
whole industry needs to take for a better future of coffee:
there should be held a study to analyze the behavior of cof-
fee pricing and productions costs in last 40 years and the
correlation between the two. The study will analyze if the
financial conditions really reflect the physical reality and
will find ways to solve it, moreover, there will be created a
committee for the actions to be followed.
This issue has a lot to do with the markets, such
as mutual funds, real estate markets, currencies, etc.
Although, they have nothing to do with the coffee
market it does influence the price of coffee and there
is no program for balancing producing countries in
terms of a fair or more structured system. “We need to

53