In honour of world coffee day I wanted to take a quick peek at what Practical Action is doing to help support the worlds coffee farmers. Its estimated that smallholder farmers produce up to 70% of the worlds coffee supply, so there is a very good chance that the cup of coffee you drank this morning was grown by a farmer and his family on a very small parcel of land. Despite being integral to the world coffee market these farmers don’t always benefit as much as they should. Farm sizes are small and farmers are often lacking in knowledge, skills and resources. This leads to unsustainable practices such as large-scale deforestation and improper use of chemical inputs. Low yields and low quality coffee beans are common.
One particular Practical Action project in the San Martin region of Peru caught my eye. The farmers had been struggling with these issues for years, soil fertility was declining and the coffee plants in the area badly affected by a fungal disease that had reduced yield by nearly 50% from previous years. The farmers were also disorganised, they sold their coffee beans at market themselves and had no collective bargaining power to demand a better price.
Practical Action began implementing a project guided by the principles of Agroecology. Agroecology promotes a holistic approach to farming that is knowledge intensive rather than inputs intensive. You can read more about Practical Action and Agroecology here.
Organic composting
In San Martin Practical Action began to consult with local communities to get to the root of the problems and to work together to solve them. Eight agroecological practices were designed including forestry, terracing, integrated pest management and production of manure compost and other techniques that reduce dependence on external inputs and improve soil conditions. Local promoters were trained to work directly with the farmers and improve their skills and knowledge. Post harvesting skills were also improved so farmers could learn how to add value to their coffee beans before bringing them to market.
Practical Action also supported the farmers to organise into producer groups and build strong relationships with buyers. These farmer groups were also trained to participate more effectively in the market with capacity building in market analysis and business management.
Better coffee and happier farmers
The practices were applied successfully by the farmers participating in the projects and had a noticeable positive impact on production. The fungal disease that had massively reduced coffee bean yield was reduced from affecting 73% of plants to just 18% of plants. In just one year coffee production increase by 33% and the quality improved so much across the board that the beans achieved a higher quality grade allowing farmers to attract a higher price for their product.
All these factors together with an increase in world coffee prices in 2014 saw the average farmers’ income increase by 252%.
Furthermore 180 hectares of soil previously degraded by poor agricultural practices has been recovered and deforestation has been controlled 100% in the 11 communities covered by the project.
So next time you enjoy your cup of coffee it’s also worth reflecting on the potential of agroecology to make your coffee taste that much better.