Hands On - The Earth Report from TVE.org

Series 3 details

This Programme:

''Fair Trade, Fair Profit'

Reports and multimedia:

A Fair Grind - Mexico

Net Profit - Tanzania

Danish Delight! - Denmark

Babassu Breakers - Brazil

Community Capital - Uganda

Series 3 Programme Guide

Other Episodes:

Grow it yourself

Net Profits

Out of the Woods

Fair Trade, Fair Profit

Waste to Wages

The Equator Initiative - Pure Gene-eous

Fuel for Thought

Funding the Future

Series 3: Programme 5 (of 8) - 'Fair Trade, Fair Profit'

Report 5 (of 5): A Fair Grind - Mexico

Introduction

Coffee is the main source of income for millions of farmers and many countries around the world. Coffee farmers are often small-scale producers living in poverty who receive low prices for their product. This undermines their ability to protect their farms and natural resources, which in turn affects their livelihoods.

Coffee plantations hold almost the same biodiversity as primary forests, occurring in biologically rich regions. If properly managed, coffee production can be both economically and ecologically beneficial. Sustainable coffee production involves farmers being paid fair prices, providing incentives for organic production and rewarding farmers for sound management of the natural resources.

The recent fall in international coffee prices has hit poor coffee farming communities very hard. Many are adapting to these new circumstances by growing organic coffee. Mexico is the world's largest producer of organic coffee. The NGO, Vinculo y Desarrollo, in collaboration with an indigenous community association, the Union de Ejidos de la Selva, is selling organic coffee grown by indigenous communities in Chiapas, southern Mexico. Together they have developed a successful retail chain of coffee shops, Café de la Selva or Coffee of the Forest, which now has 18 outlets in Mexico, Europe and the USA.

Coffee Production in Mexico

Coffee production methods in Mexico are now focused on protecting the environment and improving the livelihoods of local communities. Small-scale farmers currently produce around 80 per cent of Mexico's coffee. This coffee is mainly shade-grown as well as organic, characterised by a reliance on forests for shade canopies, with little or no chemical input and ownership by small landowners or communities.

The common practice of slashing the vegetation, setting fire to it and turning the ash under the soil in hope of a fertilising effect is still practised but the fires have led to the unintentional destruction of prime forests throughout the region, aggravating soil erosion and habitat loss.

Organic Coffee Growing

Organic coffee is produced in a manner that values the farm as an ecosystem. Emphasis is placed on recycling, composting, soil health, and biological activity with the goal of long-term protection of the farm environment. Synthetic chemicals are carefully avoided.

Organically grown coffee is usually shade-grown. The trees of the canopy provide several necessities to the organic coffee farm, among them leaf litter that acts as a fertiliser, resident wildlife species that control pests, and the retention of moisture. The majority of coffee producers in Mexico produce shade-grown coffee because it is suitable for a growing area of less than 5 hectares.

La Selva

The Café de la Selva trademark

The Union Ejidos de la Selva is a local community association that has been working with over 1,300 families in Chiapas for the past 20 years. They are helping to carry out a programme of organic coffee production that makes it possible for local families to change from passive to active organic farming, thereby helping to preserve the environment in the process. The Union represents growers and millers who produce the coffee. It also blends and exports the coffee through the Café de la Selva chain of shops. Vinculo y Desarrollo is a community organisation working with the Union, which promotes alternative business models with marginalised social groups in rural and urban areas of Chiapas. They help to market the coffee by promoting the brand and the cultural values associated with the indigenous communities that grow the coffee.

Each coffee shop is run as a profitable company with both organisations operating their own coffee shops. Building a relationship with the communities is the specific responsibility of the Union, which pays a fair price to the coffee growers. The money paid for the coffee is guaranteed to go directly into the producers hands and is used to improve child nutrition and education, and in general to improve livelihoods in their community.

Agronomists from the Union train farmers in organic techniques to increase the quantity and quality of coffee production. In return, these farmers are responsible for passing the knowledge on to other members of their group. By using certified organic techniques, farmers are able to control erosion, limit pollution, create a healthier environment for many species and produce coffee that meets the demands of the consumer.

Biodiversity and Poverty Reduction

The benefits of growing coffee using environmentally friendly methods have meant that, for many families in the Chiapas region, the coffee produced is of better quality and more marketable. As the farmers deal with the Union directly, no intermediaries are needed and incomes are consequently higher.

Organic shade-grown coffee brings a host of key benefits for the environment and for poor people. Organic coffee:

Protects forests from being cleared for logging and cattle ranching
Provides protection from soil erosion and prevents the loss of important watersheds
Captures carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is believed to contribute to global warming and the greenhouse effect
Provides an important habitat for a variety of bird species
Helps to conserve the diversity of native trees and tropical forests
Provides ground cover during the dry season, conserving topsoil and the nutrients within it.

Growing organic coffee helps reduce poverty by:

Generating higher incomes due to better product quality, increased yields and increasing demand for organic produce
Reducing the health risks to farmers from pesticides and fertilisers
Providing firewood, medicinal plants, fruit and herbs from the plants needed to provide shade for the coffee.

Training provided by the Union de Ejidos de la Selva has enabled many farmers to produce a good quantity of high quality organic coffee by learning:

To terrace sloping fields to hold topsoil, which can be built up through organic composting
When to prune in order to maximise the number of berries on coffee plants
How to intercrop banana plants and other trees that provide shade as well as secondary food and cash crops
To establish nurseries to develop seedlings
Better harvesting techniques, fermentation, drying, storing, and transporting the crop to minimise waste and add value to their production.

A Basic Guide to Organic Coffee Production

Based on the cultivation guidelines published by Naturland, 2000 http://www.naturland.de/

There are two main types of organic coffee: Arabica and Robusta.

Variety characteristics Arabica (Coffea arabica) Robusta (Coffea canephora)

Share of world production Approx. 70% Approx. 30%

Site requirements High regions; variations in annual rainfall and temperature Low regions; steady high temperatures and rainfall

Main growing areas Latin America, East Africa Asia, Africa

Caffeine content 0.6 - 1.5% 2.0 - 2.7%

Diseases/Pests At risk from berry borer and coffee rust Resistant against berry borer and coffee rust

To grow organic coffee, some key considerations and practical applications need to be met; including:

Site requirements

Coffee plants prefer well-drained and airy soils
They can grow in shallow ground due to their network of surface roots
Ideal rainfall is between 1500 mm and 1900 mm
A drought period of no more than three months can be beneficial.

Use of shading trees (upper-storey)

The most important effect of shading trees on coffee plantations are:

Creation of large amounts of organic material and humus
Protecting coffee plants from too much sun
Reducing the amount of weeds
Protecting against soil erosion
Extra food and potential income from fruit trees
Precious woods can provide long-term increase in site value.

Nutrients and organic fertilisation

Organic fertilisers such as compost need to be added:

With new plantations
After coffee bushes have been trimmed to ensure strong re-growth
In times of high coffee prices so the extra work can be justified due to higher yields

To avoid damaging surface coffee roots, compost and other organic fertilisers should not be 'worked in' but instead covered with a thick layer of mulching material.

Ripening coffee beans

Processing the beans

Crop cultivation and maintenance

Establishing a new plantation: Density and type of cultivation should be determined by plant variety and amount of cultivation to be carried out. Density of coffee bushes should not be more than 2,500 plants per hectare to allow room for shading trees.
Nurturing young plants: Seeds should come from healthy organic plantations. Seedling nurseries are often used in shaded nursery beds of pricked polyethylene sacks - sow two or more seeds per sack on a layer of at least 30% quality compost (coffee pulp) with additional forest soil. The shade covering the seedling nursery should be similar to final plot conditions.
Cultivation methods: Coffee plants and shading trees should be regularly trimmed after harvest. Every 8-16 years a radical trimming is recommended 40 cm (16 inches) above the soil. Under no circumstances should bark be removed as this would kill the tree.
Weed management: A certain number of weeds are always present especially on young plantations where they can offer protection against soil erosion on steep slopes. Hoes should not be used as they damage the shallow roots of the coffee bushes. Weeds should be cut down to 5 cm (2 in.) with a knife or scythe. All waste plant material should be used as mulch.
Soil protection: Mulch provides ideal protection against erosion. Sites built on steep slopes may need stone walls erected along contour lines in addition to erosion preventing plants such as pineapple and intensive grasses.

Plant protection

Coffee plantations are generally confronted with pests and diseases. This may be because of an unsuitable site, poor soil, lack of organic material and too few shading trees.

Disease Cause Measures

Coffee Rust (Hemileia vasatrix) Susceptible variety Use resistant plant variety or graft with Robusta rootstocks

Coffee bushes planted too close together Change density of plants

Too much or too little shade Change shade by adding/removing shading trees

Unbalanced nutrient supply Trim plants; add organic fertiliser to young plants

Brown Spot (Cercospora coffeicola) Too dense cultivation in tree nursery; wrong irrigation and shade Change density of plants

Site too wet/trees too close together Trim, produce more air circulation

Too much shade Change shade

South American Leaf Spot (Mycena citricolor) Site too cool and wet Regulate shade and weeds

Too much shade or weeds. Distance between coffee bush and tree crown too small Plant taller shading trees

Coffee Berry Borer (Hyupothenemus hampei) Plantation at too low altitude; Abandoned or infected plantations nearby; Several blossoms, coffee cherries which ripen over a long period Complete harvest and collection of all coffee cherries
Infect the plantation with fungi Bauveria bassiana.Generally 2-3 settings sufficient
If this doesn't work release Chalcid wasps

Coffee Leaf Miner (Leucoptera coffea) Too much sunlight, and too dry micro-climate Improve shade

Harvesting and post-harvest treatment

Only ripe fruits should be harvested (orange to red in colour)
Adequate drying places for the coffee beans need to be provided, otherwise they are at risk of fungi infections. The quality of coffee can be strongly affected by this.

A Successful Partnership

Organic farming systems are the most environmentally friendly and sustainable agricultural methods. They help preserve the eco-system and species diversity, help to protect the soil, keep water clean and reduce the impact of agriculture on the atmosphere.

Growing organic coffee is important because coffee is one of the most traded commodities in the world. Changing to sustainable methods of coffee farming has a big impact on preserving the environment while improving local livelihoods. The source of the Selva coffee is what makes Café de la Selva so special. By controlling the chain of coffee production, the Union de Ejidos de la Selva improves indigenous farmers' income and self-sufficiency, soil management and environmental practices.

For further information, please contact:

David Velasco Samperio
Vinculo y Desarollo
Had. Molino de Flores
#4 Col. Prado Coapa
Mexico D.F.
Mexico

Tel 5684 6407
Fax 5684 6407
Email: vinculoydessarollo@hotmail.com

Union de Ejidos de la Selva
Calle Primera Sur Oriente no. 47
Colonia: Barrio de Los Pocitos
Las Margaritas Chiapas
30180 A.P 16
Mexico

Tel +01 963 601 44
Fax: +01 963 220 76
E-mail: laselva@comitan.com

Websites

www.laneta.apc.org/cnoc
The National Coordinator of Coffee Organizations is an autonomous national network of 126 regional peasant organisations that unites 75,000 small coffee producers from the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosí and Veracruz in Mexico.

www.globalexchange.org/economy/coffee/
Global Exchange is a human rights organisation dedicated to promoting environmental, political, and social justice around the world. They currently run a Fair Trade Coffee Campaign in the US and the website contains information on how to get involved and where to buy fair trade coffee in the USA.

http://www.ocia.org/
The Organic Crop Improvement Association is one of the world's largest organic certification agencies. The website has a good links page.

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/
The Fairtrade Foundation aims to ensure a better deal for marginalised and disadvantaged producers in developing countries and awards a consumer label, the Fairtrade Mark, to products which meet internationally recognised standards of fair trade.

http://www.ifat.org/
IFAT is the International Federation for Alternative Trade, a global network of over 160 Fair Trade organisations in more than 50 countries, which works to improve the livelihoods and well-being of disadvantaged people in developing countries and to change the unfair structures of international trade.

Acknowledgements

ITDG would like to thank David Velasco for his input into this paper.

TVE/ Practical Action gratefully acknowledge support for the HANDS ON programmes from the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), the European Commission (EC), the UN Foundation and UNDP/The Equator Initiative in collaboration with the Government of Canada, IDRC, IUCN, BrasilConnects and the Nature Conservancy.