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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

In my last blog post about Union Direct Trade I exlplained how we’ve developed a research project to examine the impact of our approach to coffee sourcing on the lives of coffee producers and on the quality of the coffee they grow. I can now let Pascale who is undertaking this research out in the field introduce herself and explain her thoughts when she arrived in Central America.

                ¡Hola!

 I am happy to introduce myself to all Union Hand Roasted Coffee Lovers. My name is Pascale Schuit, 24 years old. Currently I live in Huehuetenango, Guatemala but my home is in the Netherlands. I have finished my Bachelor and Master International Development Studies with the specialization rural economics (at Wageningen University, The Netherlands). After five years of formal education on development economics and sociology and previous field experience in Costa Rica with (coffee) farmers I am now going to work in Guatemala and Costa Rica for Union Hand Roasted.

                                  Steven, Don Nasario & Pascale – Tierra Altos, La Libertad

As you all might know Union Hand Roasted Coffee selects from farmers who produce high quality and pay a premium price for this quality. Moreover, they develop long term relationships with coffee producers that are committed to produce high quality coffee.

My first experiences here show that these two aspects, a fair price and the long-term relationship are very much appreciated by the farmers and are most likely to positively influence the quality of coffee. The fair price and the guarantee that Union hand Roasted Coffee will buy from them reduces the risk that farmers take when they invest in their coffee fields.

To illustrate, applying fertilizer is expensive and one is not always sure where the fertilizer will actually improve yields. When a farmer is not sure whether and at what price he can sell his coffee, as is the case when selling to intermediaries or coyotes as called in Latin America, the decision to apply fertilizer therefore includes a risk. It is a big expense and the pay-offs are uncertain. Union Hand Roasted Coffee has a contract with cooperatives with specifies the quantities and a minimum price therefore farmers know how much room they have to invest.

However, there are many questions to be answered. One of them is what is this fair-price? How much do farmers need in order to maintain and invest in not only their coffee fields but also in their family, education, health etc.? Where do farmers face problems in producing a high quality coffee? And where do the strengths lie to produce the excellent cup of coffee that we all like to enjoy?! This is just a small example of the things that I am hopefully going to find out during the course of my 5 months stay in Guatemala and Costa Rica.

I will regularly update you! But now I first will enjoy a delicious cup of Huehuetanango Highland Coffee!  

                   Saludos y un abrazo

                                Pascale

Any questions you’d like to ask Pascale about her research, please leave a comment below.