1. Grounds for Change: Creating a voice for small coffee farmers and farmworkers with the next international coffee agreement
- Subjects
Food and livelihoods ,Trade - Abstract
The coffee price crash of 2001 had devastating effects on tens of millions of smallholder farmers and farmworkers around the developing world. Though recent improvements in the international price of coffee are providing some relief, the dynamics of the coffee market have not shifted in ways that guarantee long-term stability for those at the bottom of the supply chain. The 2001 crash took place in the context of a long-term trend in which coffee farmers, workers, and net coffee-exporting countries have seen the value of their coffee diminish. Coffee plays a crucial role in the livelihoods of millions of rural households in the developing world. Small-scale family farmers produce over 75% of the world’s coffee. Market volatility and declining terms of trade, along with inadequate access to infrastructure, financial resources, and market information, put sustainable livelihoods out of reach for millions of rural families. The coffee market continues to be a showcase of the need to address the commodity crisis on a global scale, a crisis that is hampering the development of many countries. This is directly linked to the global interest in wider peace and stability. The current discussions on the future of the International Coffee Agreement present an historic opportunity to address the ongoing crisis facing smallholder coffee farmers and farmworkers by contributing to sustainable coffee supply chains. At the 2nd World Coffee Conference in September 2005 several organisations presented the International Coffee Organisation and its delegates with the Carta de Salvador – the Salvador Declaration1, which stressed the ongoing effects of the coffee crisis facing small-scale family farmers and farmworkers. This paper calls on International Coffee Organisation members to support small-scale farmers and farmworker organisations by ensuring space for their direct participation in international debate, creating mechanisms that enhance the availability of market information to small-scale farmers, and maximizing opportunities to develop cohesive international strategies to provide technical support, access to credit, and direct access to markets.
- Published
- 2006