4 • Coffee World • C&CI May 2013
Valuing women benefits communities
On a number of occasions when writing about certification schemes I’ve suggested that it was high time that there was a certification mark for ‘gender friendly’ or ‘women friendly’ coffee (and indeed cocoa). Well, now it seems there is, as I learnt at the National Coffee Association (NCA) annual convention in San Francisco, talking to representatives of Almana Harvest, an organisation working with the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) to benefit women in the world of coffee.
Almana Harvest is working with the IWCA to ‘harvest’ fees and contributions
from a selected network of socially responsible coffee suppliers and customers that will result in direct support for women in the world of coffee at countries of origin. To achieve these goals, the Almana Harvest Fund was created with the support of the Marin Community Foundation (MCF), one of the largest community foundations in the US, which manages US$1.3 billion in assets and made US$59 million grants in 2012. As most readers of C&CI will already fully appreciate, women play a major
role in the production of coffee and cocoa. It is most often women who under- take the majority of the maintenance and harvesting of family-owned coffee plots. Despite this, however, they tend to have little control over the proceeds from growing coffee, and the coffee industry in origin countries seldom, if ever, make provision for women’s interests. Almana Harvest’s intention is to promote coffee grown by women, and help them provide a better, more secure, more sustainable future for their families. Almana Harvest is promoting a new brand, ‘Women’s Harvest,’ and is seeking to build consumer awareness and demand. Gender and sustainability verified, these excellent coffees are grown by farmers belonging to the IWCA country producing chapters. I recommend you try some. Of course, it isn’t only in coffee that women play a major role but remain disenfranchised. In West Africa, where the majority of cocoa is grown, women contribute significantly to cocoa production, accounting for nearly 50 per cent of labour on cocoa farms. However, despite the significant role that they play in production, they do not benefit to the same degree as men, and there continue to be serious ‘gender gaps’ in development projects in the sector. In research conducted in West and Central Africa in partnership with the Royal Tropical In- stitute in Amsterdam, the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) found that most out- reach projects target cocoa farm managers and owners, who are predominantly male, inadvertently excluding women from participation. Moreover, the financial credits awarded to farmers for important, but costly inputs, are awarded on the basis of farm ownership, and few women farmers own the land they work. Mars, one of the biggest names in the chocolate/cocoa sector, said it ap-
preciates the attention that Oxfam International is giving to cocoa farmers and the communities they live in. “As we work to help farmers and their families achieve better wages and more opportunities, we welcome the consideration from organisations also interested in the welfare of farmers and their com- munities,” said Mars. “We are looking forward to strengthening our approach involving women in the community development process, continuing to ensure that women in cocoa communities are fully empowered to participate equally alongside the many other diverse groups in West African society.” At about the same time, Oxfam released a report called ‘Behind the Brands.’
The report included a scorecard that ranked the top 10 food companies on seven themes: workers, farmers, women, land, water, climate and transparency. One key area where companies were consistently failing was women yet, as the report said, the paradox is that women are often the key to food security for their own families. For this reason, Oxfam would like companies to improve policies and practices that affect female smallholder farmers, such as by engaging with co-operatives in which women are properly represented. Oxfam is calling on the three largest cocoa sourcing companies, Mars, Mondelez and Nestlé, to do more for women cocoa farmers. They should, said Oxfam, “Look, and ‘know and show’ that women are treated fairly by assessing and reporting on the economic and social status of women in supply chains;” second, they should listen, and “respond to the demands of women in supply chains, and make public commitments to protecting women’s rights and ensuring opportunities for female smallholder farmers;” and lastly, they should act, and “take concrete steps to redress gender inequities in supply chains and influence others to do so as well.”
Coffee leaf rust crisis sweeps Central America
As highlighted elsewhere in this issue of C&CI, an outbreak of coffee leaf rust or ‘roya’ as it is known in the region, continues to adversely affect Central American producers. The epidemic, considered the worst ever recorded, followed abnormal rainfall in late 2012, coupled with inadequate control
Coffee leaf rust has swept through Central American countries in the last 12-18 months (photo: PLoS ONE)
measures due to the increased cost of fungicides. In most countries in the region, coffee is a key source of income for small farmers, as well as the main export commodity. A detailed assessment of the crop losses at national level is not yet available, and the extent of the damage varies from country to country. The effect on production in each country will depend on the control measures implemented. In most parts of the region, the harvest gets under way from October onwards. Preliminary estimates indicate extensive damage to the crop, with early forecasts pointing to a significant reduction in production. It is also likely that production in 2014 will be adversely affected due to the severe defoliation taking place in large growing areas and the need to replace the damaged plants. As the Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) also recently pointed out, coffee is the main cash crop for small farmers in Central America and a significant source of employment in rural areas, where high rates of poverty prevail, particularly in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Overall, it is estimated that on average 25-30 per cent of the rural population, or about 1.5 million people, in the region are employed in the coffee sector, and the anticipated sharp fall in income from coffee farming will affect an already vulnerable population. “Given the economic importance of coffee as an export commodity, reduced 2013 coffee production… is expected to have a negative impact at national level,” said the FOA.
• According to the FAO, in Guatemala, about 70 per cent of the total planted area has been affected by rust and production in 2013 is expected to be 40 per cent below its level in 2012. The government of Guatemala declared a state of phytosanitary emergency on 8 February.
• In Honduras, roya has affected about 25 per cent of the planted area and the 2013 output is forecast to be down by 14 per cent down compared with initial forecasts and 11 per cent below the level of production in 2012. The government here also declared a state of phytosanitary emergency, on 24 January.
• In Costa Rica, the fungus affected about 20 per cent of the area planted leading to an expected 10 per cent decline in 2013 production compared to 2012. The government declared a state of phytosanitary emergency on 22 January.
• In El Salvador, about 40 per cent of coffee plants were affected by rust and 2013 production is expected to be 20 per cent lower than forecast, although slightly above the level achieved in the previous crop year.
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