unionroasted blog

Workshops with coffee producers in Tuiboch:  Creating “Liberaćion”

If you’ve followed our series of posts about developing our ethical Union Direct Trade for coffee sourcing you’ll know that Pascale spent 6 months of last year in Central America working with the small scale farmers who produce the coffees we buy. Pascale has a Masters in Development Economics from Wageningen University (The Netherlands). She has returned to Guatemala at the start of the season to continue her work with us at Union on improving standards. With much talk about “Direct Trade” we consider this mechanism has to be more than just coffee provenance and likewise any claims made about profitability have to be verified. Here Pascale explains that most producers don’t have a clue what their production costs are and how we’re tackling this problem.  (Steven)

Location: Tuiboch, Todos Santos Guatemala

Activity: Workshop about costs of production & labour standards

Participants: 22 producers.

Date: 6 February 2012

Monday the 6^th of February I visited Tuiboch, Todos Santos. I gave two workshops, those who have followed my earlier blog know that I have spent some time with these producers in March/April 2011 conducting a study on their costs of production. This study helped the cooperative to define a fair price per quintal in pergamino (parchment coffee) which is set at 1250 Quetzales, for this year. One of the most important conclusions of this study was that none of the producers keeps a proper administration of their costs. This is very typical for small scale farmers. So my return to Guatemala was an excellent opportunity to present the results of the study and discuss my findings with the producers. I showed them how they can keep track of production costs and showed them a small booklet I have created for them in a format that will facilitate them to keep track of their costs of production! This way they can account for all their costs and ensure they sell their coffee at a price that allows them to reinvest in their farms.

My second workshop was related to a small-holder booklet developed by the Ethical Trading initiative (ETI), a British organization which aims to raise workplace labour standards among suppliers to into the British market. The standards ETI follows are based on those of the International Labour Organization (ILO). A Spanish version of the booklet has been created but Union Hand-Roasted Coffee have taken a more pro-active approach and discuss these working conditions with coffee producers. Therefore, we are going to the different communities in Guatemala and presenting the Labour Standards workshop and discussing them with the producers. Treating subjects as equal payments, fair payments and clean and secure working conditions are very important. To illustrate, during the workshop none of the producers were aware of the minimum wage in Guatemala. This is important if they hire pickers to help with the harvest on their farms.

After the workshop we cupped 9 coffees together along with the producers. The interaction was beneficial because producers could experience by tasting and learning for themselves for example, if coffee needed a couple more hours of drying in the sun. Also showing them the broken beans in the coffee helps them to understand the importance of calibrating their depulper machine with the correct sensitivity. We are going to repeat this exercise with the other communities that produce the coffee we have named “Guatemala Liberacion”, so I will keep you up to date.

It was a very successful day with the help of Cooperativa Esquipulas R.L. and the participation of the producers. See the photos for yourself!

http://vimeo.com/36647114

Series about Union Direct Trade

In previous post about Union Direct Trade we’ve talked about how we’re gathering information from smallscale coffee farmers in Huehuetenango in Guatemala. This work has been undertaken by Pascale, a masters graduate in Development Economics from Wageningen University as a research project to define how Union can have a positive impact on the lives of coffee farmers.

Pascale has been in Huehuetenango for five months and now reflects on her experiences as she completes her first period of work there and prepares to move on to Costa Rica.

Emigration was one of the coping mechanisms to deal with the coffee crisis in the late 90s. It has become the major reality of rural economies Central America.

Of the 87 households I’ve interviewed here in Huehuetenango. I discovered that 72% have or had migrant family members. The majority immigrated to the United States
(89%) and 11% to Mexico. In 40% of the cases it was the farmer (head of family) who went to the United States. The reasons for migration are: earn money to pay off debts, buy land to cultivate coffee, buying a car, or construct a house.

Although migration and the money earned from this have positive effects, such as lower poverty rates there are many social costs; broken families, a reduction in labour supply, the risk of death, injury or imprisonment from illegal border crossing, and a reduction in knowledge and skill transfer since producers are not there to teach their children how to cultivate coffee. (Steven has previously talked about the impact on the women who are left behind – Abandoned in Guatemala)

Listening to the women farmers at Todos Santos

Fair and reasonable coffee prices and long-term commitment is therefore very important for coffee producers. As the groups I interviewed indicated, knowing that they have a committed buyer such as Union Hand-Roasted Coffee gives them just and spirit to keep on working to produce high quality coffee. The previous unstable markets impeded producers from investing in their coffee fields because prices hardly covered the cost of production, it also does not make any sense investing in high quality coffee if there was no premium for quality coffee. Quality coffee requires extra labour and money investments. Only ripe cherries must be picked and traditionally pickers get paid by piece (per
quintal (46Kg) of coffee harvested). A disadvantage of paying by quintal is that workers will pick as much as possible, to earn more. To incentivise pickers to only select the ripe coffee cherries, farmers pay day labourers a higher price per day.

Although these producers in Huehuetenango are on the right track, it is important that low interest credits to fund paying for the harvest becomes available to producers.  This will reduce their cost of production increasing the profits.

Guatemala is a beautiful country, colourful, rich in culture and tradition and inhabited by a population which is generous, hospitable and hard-working. Yet, Guatemala faces many difficulties. The country is very unsafe and Huehuetenango bordering Mexico is a collection of drug traffickers. Bad road conditions, landslides and (violent) demonstrations on the roads make it difficult or sometimes impossible to travel from one place to another. Especially during the harvest this is a serious problem for those preparing their coffee for export. Hence, I have the highest respect for those working under these conditions. The farmers of La Libertad and Todos Santos have faced many barriers, but they never gave up. “For every problem there is a solution” is their motto. I believe that the fair and transparent relationship that Union Hand-Roasted Coffee has with the organizations that form these co-operatives will contribute to the development of towns in La Libertad, Chanjon and Tuiboch (Todos Santos).

boarding the bus to agronomy classes

Transparency and traceability are two important aspect of a company’s business model. Only by being transparent in the whole coffee chain, can both buyer and producer be sure that the benefits really reach the producers.

Almost Integrated into Guatemala Culture !

My next stop is going to be Costa Rica; there I anticipate the situation with farmers will be completely different. Besides the fact that the country is much more stable and is classified as a middle–development country, Costa Rica has embraced a “micro-mill revolution” which Union has talked about before and I will describe more in my next post.

In my last post about visiting farmers in Rwanda during the current season, I discussed how high market prices can bring difficulties to the farmers. In this post we’ll look at how prices can affect quality.

Quality is not an Accident

The second negative effect of high coffee market prices shows its hand in the overall quality of coffee reaching consumers.  In years of low market price, farmers  producing high quality specialty coffee know they have to maximise that quality to attract best prices. They achieve this by careful and selective picking which is more labour intensive, and careful post-harvest processing of the cherries.  This year, not only in Rwanda but as we have seen in many countries, farmers understandably take the view that they will be receiving more than last year without the extra effort – so why bother!  Again we have taken a great deal of time – including Steven visiting them earlier this year – to encourage them to work carefully and reinforcing to farmers that our agreement to buy, at a premium to market value, is linked to producing high scoring speciality grades.

If all of this market turbulence was not enough to cope with, the weather also added its own challenge.  Usually, the cherries ripen and are harvested over a period of around twelve weeks.  This year however, due to lots of rain and warm sunshine, the full crop came in over just six weeks and the Coffee Washing Stations, where the cherries are processed, were inundated by huge volumes of coffee cherries which need to be pulped really quickly. The beans must be separated from the pulp in a timely manner. If this is not done, fermentation in the bean can occur, or insects are attracted and damage the cherries, both of which can cause unpleasant taste effects in the finished coffee.  As we are in regular contact with producers that UNION buy from, we were aware of the problem and knew that there would be issues in the harvest quality so careful selection was needed more than ever.

Each individual lot has to be sampled

It’s this last matter that really drove me to spend a chunk of July in the cupping Lab in Kigali, working with Leatitia, a cupper I had helped to train some five years ago and who helped select our lots last year.  Together we cupped and scored hundreds of individual production lots from three Cooperatives and to get the coffee Union requires this year, we discounted just over 50% of the lots as not being up to our standard, and that was after Leatitia had pre-screened the lots to offer me a choice of those she considered the best.

To make the selections, a sample of green coffee is taken from each lot passing through the stations on any given day and labelled with the district and control reference number and is sent to the cupping lab in Kigali.

First the lots are sample roasted

300g of the coffee is prepared and roasted the day before we cup the lot; first we assess the roasted fragrance of the dry grounds and then pour the water, steep before evaluating the wet aroma, and then tasting the coffee brewed simply in a glass. We evaluate for a range of characteristics to produce a final score and description for that coffee that enables me to make a selection and construct the overall quantity, quality and flavour profile when the lots are put together.

In each cooperative there are districts that each have their own terroir and hence character.  My job was to select the best lots and bring them together (blend them) to achieve an overall standard for the cooperative that reflects the style of the district.  Maraba for example produces a rich full bodied and smooth coffee with an
elegant orange/citrus acidity to balance the cup; we offer this as our Single Estate coffee, Rwanda Maraba Bourbon.  COCAGI cooperative in Gashonga yields a coffee that is sweet, fuller bodied and has more red fruit flavour notes which we’ve also selected as a core component for our Revelation espresso.  Karaba Co-operative was new to us this year and being out in the cupping lab to taste tens of lots from the district was fascinating and wholly informative.  I’m looking forward to UNION being able to offer this coffee, which is distinct from the others having a lighter body with clean fresh apricot and white fruit, almost floral notes and a silky milk chocolate mouthfeel.

Occasionally during the cupping process, a lot comes up on the table that has a really outstanding flavour, with clarity and balance coupled with unique flavour notes and which also receives a high score.  In these cases, I have requested that these small lots are segregated all the way through and are delivered to us as our micro-lot selections.  We will release information on these as and when we get closer to them arriving in London and have checked and approved the arrival samples ensuring nothing untoward has happened during shipping.

Samples cooling before cupped

It’s only by getting out to the farms that we can know what has occurred during the harvest each year and I have no doubt that there may, sadly be a lot of very variable quality Rwanda coffee reaching the international market.  But it’s through our Union Direct Trade relationships and putting the miles
and work in, also personally a very enjoyable process that UNION Hand-Roasted Coffee will again be able to represent the very best of Rwanda’s speciality coffee
harvest for 2011-2012.

Working out the final scores

Series about Union Direct Trade

In the previous post Pascale talked about getting stuck into the interviews with farmers in Huehuetenango to obtain data for our Monitoring & Evaluation study. We have worked with these farmers only for two seasons, so are still in the early stages of our relationship. Pascale was learning more about coffee production in this remote region of Northern Guatemala. Here, she talks about what the farmers have been working for during the previous twelve months; receiving an income for their coffee.

¡Hola!

Coffee payments in Tuiboch

Traditionally, farmers are paid in full at the end of the season, in May, at the final “liquidation meeting” of the coffee harvest. The timing of this payment causes problems because producers have large costs to cover during the year, particularly through season when fertilizer is needed, and during the harvest to pay for labour. Union pays part of the contract earlier to help with cashflow.

Cashflow problems mean that some farmers do not sell all their coffee to their co-operative. Instead, farmers sell a small amount to coyotes (middleman). Even though coyotes pay on average less than the co-operative, they pay directly in cash at the time of harvesting. Some farmers need this money to pay to the day labourers who harvest the coffee. This is why pre-finance is very important for small-scale farmers. Having some money in advance allows farmers to enter all their crop into the co-operative which pays a higher price than coyotes and more importantly will offer a sustainable price not only today but also in the future.

This “liquidization meeting” started with a visit from ANACAFE (Guatemala Coffee Board) who will help the cooperative to obtain a loan for their next harvest. Low interest loans with good conditions are crucial. Currently some farmers, those who are not members of the cooperative, have no other options but to pay up to 36% annually in interest. These are all cost which reduces the final amount of income available for investments in coffee production, education for children and health care.

This year, representatives of the Co-operative were happy to announce they had a small victory; it was the first year that they succeeded in paying their farmers so early, in May. In previous years final payment was later than June. Waiting so long requires a lot of patience and commitment of farmers and can put them in a position in which they cannot pay off their debts and continue to pay interest. The commitment that farmers show to their organizations is strong; they really want to make this project work.

It is incredible to see how transparently the Co-operative works. Before farmers received their payment a presentation was given, clearly explaining how much coffee was received what the expenses were. The presentation was illustrated with pictures; many producers never (will) have the opportunity to see the beneficio seco (dry mill) in Huehuetenango and with these pictures they can learn about what happens with their coffee after they deliver it to their co-operative. Each farmer signs a form that states the amount of coffee that he delivered and the price he received. By doing this the co-operative can be completely transparent to Union Hand Roasted, and prove that they paid a fair price to their producers. From an outsider perspective this may seem obvious since co-operatives are owned by small scale farmers and consequently they should all have access to this information. Unfortunately, the level of transparency as we see here rarely happens within other cooperatives.  

Signing the act of the meeting

A copy of the coffee cupping evaluation form was also handed over to the farmers. Farmers can see for themselves how there coffee was cupped and which exceptional qualities their coffee has. If coffee showed signs of fermentation and was rejected, this is also listed on the cupping form. Hence, the form also serves as direct feedback, since fermentation can be avoided by handling the coffee carefully when processing the cherry into parchment.

A small talk was given about the history and reasons for the project for both new and existing members. Many small scale farmers have a rather short-term vision, rather than planning for their future, they sell to those who pay soonest if not the most. This is understandable.

The importance of a guaranteed minimum floor-price and having a long-term buyer-relationship may not always reach the minds of the producers. Their main concern is the price that they will receive for their crop that season.  Therefore, reminding them and explaining the goal and aim of the project is an important task of the co-operative.

It is not only time and labour intensive to cultivate coffee, but also commercializing coffee requires knowledge, time, negotiation and organization skills. After the coffee is harvested there is a lot of work to do. First samples of each “lote de cafe” need to be cupped to grade coffee on the basis of quality and lots are selected by Union Hand Roasted. Any coffee not suited for export, because it shows any defect, like fermentation, is sold at the local market.

The coffee needs to be transported to Huehuetenango City where the “beneficio seco” processes the parchment coffee into “café en oro”, coffee ready for export. Afterwards it needs to be transported to the harbour from where it is shipped.

Small scale farmers exporting coffee face many challenges and costs, not only in farming coffee but also in commercializing. Processing, transport and administration cost are uncured during the year. Yet they are devoted to producing and exporting top quality coffee. In the past there were many obstacles thrown into the path, and there are still obstacles to overcome. Yet, they are working hard on further improving the quality of their coffee. 

Saludos,           Pascale
A word from Steven…Again Pascale has talked frankly about the true hardships that farmers face on the yearly coffee cycle. Some good work has been achieved in creating loyalty to their cooperative. This gives the farmers direct access to the export market and opportunity for greater earning potential. It is clear how important the access to pre-finance is and this will be one of the main projects Union will be working on for next season.                    Steven