ETHIOPIA, POVERTY AND FAIRTRADE

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get_involved_makepovertyhistory.htm

(click on downloads – Other Resources)

http://www.coffeesupreme.co.nz/

(click on Fair Trade to locate Justin McArthur’s letter)

Twenty years ago, in 1985, the world’s attention was rocked by appalling food shortages in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is not just one of the world’s poor and heavily indebted nations – it is also the birthplace of coffee and Africa’s largest producer with 1.2 million coffee growers. Income from coffee sales has been crucial to the country’s economy, including  the payment of its external debts.

However, just four years after Live Aid, the agreement that regulated international coffee prices collapsed, throwing millions of smallholder coffee growers worldwide to the mercy of the market. Since then, prices have regularly fallen well below the cost of production for coffee farmers, such as in 2001 when the price of Arabica coffee beans fell to just 45 US cents a pound. For Ethiopia, the collapse of prices has seen revenue from coffee exports fall by some 60%, with disastrous results for the country’s longer-term food security and wider development.

Throughout this crisis, the international Fairtrade price for coffee has remained at US $1.26 per pound – including a 5 cents premium for the farmers to invest in social, economic or environmental improvements. As well as the minimum price, Fairtrade has also encouraged longer-term contracts, up-front payments and other investments that have provided farmers with more stability in the face of the crisis.

In Ethiopia, Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union brings together 35 co-operatives of small farmers. Eight of these, representing over 7,000 farmers, are now certified to international Fairtrade standards. They now have an alternative to the low-price coffee auctions, and are able to sell some of their coffee directly to the Fairtrade markets in Europe and North America. The premium received from Fairtrade means that they have been able to invest in improving the quality of their coffee by installing machines to wash the beans, and by committing to organic farming methods. By planting citrus and bananas in between the coffee bushes, they are also reducing their dependence on income from coffee for their food security.

 Under a quarter of Ethiopia’s children complete primary education, with families unable to afford school uniforms and books, or even food at schools which can be up to 20 kilometres away from their homes. The Oromia co-operative is now building four primary schools to help farmers keep their children in school. They are also investing in two health clinics and two clean water pumps for local communities.