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C

Whether you call it a

hype or a bubble, the

fact remains that NFTs

have established

themselves and are

here to stay.

To put some figures into perspective, according to an
analysis done by Enveritas with the aid of Carto, it is es-
timated that 12.5 million smallholder coffee farmers are
producing 60% of the world’s coffee. 44% of these farmers
are living in poverty and 22% are in extreme poverty. What
that means is 5.5 million farmers are living below the in-
ternational poverty line of US$3.20 a day. A third are
earning less than US$100 per year from coffee production.
The deadly combination of below average price for
coffee that the farmers are being offered, and add to that
the unstable climatic conditions for growing crops, farm-
ers are forced to abandon their farms to search for alter-
native income. Climate change is real and a research
published by Science Advances points to 60% of coffee
species under threat which can reach extinction status
by 2100 as reported on Earth.com.
It has also been estimated by the Inter-American Federico adds, “We have built the platform on tion as a source of income. Laura and Federico in-
Development Bank (IDB) that rising temperatures in blockchain to certify price transparency. Blockchain has troduced their newly launched NFT with the sole
coffee growing regions will deem 50% of the land unsuit- a tremendous opportunity and we are one of the first purpose of training, educating and building aware-
able for growing coffee by 2050. If I have to connect the applying this technology to coffee. Eventually all business ness on the future of coffee.
dots and come to a conclusion, exodus is inevitable. players will realize this and soon enough standardization Fantine wanted to bridge specialty coffee and the
The founders of Fantine saw this taking place with will kick in. There is a lot of discussion regarding block- NFT technology: use art to create awareness for social,
their producers and decided to address transparency and chain as a supply chain and many industry groups are humanitarian or environmental issues such as the sus-
inclusivity in the coffee supply chain in 2019. Laura discussing standards and best practices.” tainability of coffee production. Laura comments on this,
Amado and Federico Miatton have developed a block- Laura continued, “One of the main factors block- “We thought it was a fantastic idea to raise awareness
chain-enabled platform to focus on empowering coffee chain started being incorporated in many industries is amongst coffee enthusiasts, but also capture the attention
producers to earn a fair price for their crops and become which the coffee industry is very familiar with — trans- of the tech audience. Whether you call it a hype or a
more independent from speculative commodities markets. parency. The coffee value chain is opaque, needless to bubble, the fact remains that NFTs have established
Laura states her vision, “In Fantine, our mission is say, you never know what is going on at origin before themselves and are here to stay.”
to create a transparent and efficient coffee value chain you get the coffee to your roastery. Coffee changes many Federico adds, “The NFT we used is of a bird and a
driven by technology to generate win-win economic hands before it arrives at its final destination, there can common visitor in Andean coffee plantations, especially
transactions. More than 40% of the coffee farmers are be as many as 15 steps. Our focus is to make the value in Colombia and Peru. It is called Cock of the Rock (El
living below the poverty line and this is not sustainable. chain a little bit shorter. Our digital platform will feature Gallito de Roca) and a very peculiar bird with brilliant
The coffee consumption is growing around the world so all the things that the producers are doing in relation to red-orange plumage, and a large fan-like crest. Its popu-
it makes sense to have a channel for them to sell their varieties, production and processing.” lations are in decline because of habitat loss and the best
crops directly. My biggest goal is to reach millions of Fantine is collaborating with Fundación Germi- way to ensure their protection is sustainably produced
farmers around the world, in Africa and in Central Amer- nar to support the coffee school for kids and engage coffee plantations or agroforestry. We are using the image
ica, and connect them to buyers in Europe, Middle East them at an early age in coffee related training and of this bird on our coffee jute sacks to create awareness
Image Credit: Fantine
and Asia.” workshops to avert from abandoning coffee produc- about them and the protection of their habitat.”

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