Mt Meru Coffee > The Project

In the Beginning
Background
In the US
In Tanzania

The Mt. Meru Coffee Project differs from many fair trade programs and pricing practices, paying the farmers a minimum $2.20 per pound for the ready to roast, high quality “Mt. Meru Select Tanzanian Coffee” they produce. This $2.20 amount is often two to four times more than the prices paid by unscrupulous commercial buyers and in many cases 25% to 50% more than other fair trade program payments.

Mt. Meru Coffee Project differs in accountability from many other fair trade programs as it provides a direct connection between small coffee farmers and coffee consumers through its ministry partnership. This partnership provides the Project and farmers with an ability to openly discuss production expenses, inflationary pressures, cost of living, and crop sustainability processes, to determine a proper fair trade value for their coffee.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF FAIR PAYMENTS

Coffee is one of the Worlds most heavily traded commodities, and a little history helps us to understand the small farmer’s predicament, their need for fair payments, and the necessity for consumer involvement.

In 1989 the ICO (International Coffee Organization) International Coffee Agreement of 1975-1989, which provided minimum price supports, collapsed, yielding to free market pressures. It is believed by some that this and this alone, caused the rapid decline of coffee trading prices into the mid and late 1990’s. It is also believed by some that production increases in the same relative time period, in anxious attempts to cover income losses, are a contributing cause

Coffee prices once held at a minimum of $1.20 per pound by ICO agreements in the 70’s and 80’s fell to below 50 cents per pound in mid 2001 and hovered there into 2004. With trade prices falling below the farmer’s actual production expenses, many farmers chose to give up on coffee farming, causing some to uproot coffee trees in search of other income producing crops. This reduced the overall amount of coffee available which increased consumer pricing, but did very little to increase the farmers income.

In the very late 1980’s and early 1990’s, about 100 million people involved in the exporting, importing, and marketing of coffee, and dependent on coffee for their livelihood, began to realize that many of the 50 to 75 million small coffee farmers in the world’s coffee growing regions, also dependent on coffee for a livelihood, were no longer producing the quantity and quality of coffee needed to meet their customers’ demands. Simply put, coffee growing was no longer providing an income that would support the farmer’s family or farm sustainability.

Fair trading developments, as we know them today, had a start with religious and civic organizations in the 1940’s and 50’s as they supported fair payments to local farmers or producers and expanded these practices into international trade for foods, crafts and art. Throughout history, fair trade has been practiced in principled civil societies with occasional flourishes of great success.

In 1988 the Max Havelaar Foundation founded the first fair trade labeling program, opening the way to today’s increasingly extensive and often expensive number of certification programs seeking the attention and support of consumers. Unfortunately, a few of these organizations act as thought they, and only they, are the true purveyors of fair trade and that only through their specific certification processes is anyone to be considered a true fair trade participant. Regrettably, many of these organizations provide the small producing farmer with little, if any, voice in their management or price setting policies.

The Mt. Meru Coffee Project differs from many fair trade programs and pricing practices, paying the farmers a minimum $2.20 per pound for the ready to roast, high quality “Mt. Meru Select Tanzanian Coffee” they produce. This $2.20 amount is often two to four times more than the prices paid by unscrupulous commercial buyers and in many cases 25% to 50% more than other fair trade program payments.

Mt. Meru Coffee Project differs in accountability from many other fair trade programs as it provides a direct connection between small coffee farmers and coffee consumers through its ministry partnership. This partnership provides the Project and farmers with an ability to openly discuss production expenses, inflationary pressures, cost of living, and crop sustainability processes, to determine a proper fair trade value for their coffee.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF FAIR PAYMENTS

Coffee is one of the Worlds most heavily traded commodities, and a little history helps us to understand the small farmer’s predicament, their need for fair payments, and the necessity for consumer involvement.

In 1989 the ICO (International Coffee Organization) International Coffee Agreement of 1975-1989, which provided minimum price supports, collapsed, yielding to free market pressures. It is believed by some that this and this alone, caused the rapid decline of coffee trading prices into the mid and late 1990’s. It is also believed by some that production increases in the same relative time period, in anxious attempts to cover income losses, are a contributing cause

Coffee prices once held at a minimum of $1.20 per pound by ICO agreements in the 70’s and 80’s fell to below 50 cents per pound in mid 2001 and hovered there into 2004. With trade prices falling below the farmer’s actual production expenses, many farmers chose to give up on coffee farming, causing some to uproot coffee trees in search of other income producing crops. This reduced the overall amount of coffee available which increased consumer pricing, but did very little to increase the farmers income.

In the very late 1980’s and early 1990’s, about 100 million people involved in the exporting, importing, and marketing of coffee, and dependent on coffee for their livelihood, began to realize that many of the 50 to 75 million small coffee farmers in the world’s coffee growing regions, also dependent on coffee for a livelihood, were no longer producing the quantity and quality of coffee needed to meet their customers’ demands. Simply put, coffee growing was no longer providing an income that would support the farmer’s family or farm sustainability.

Fair trading developments, as we know them today, had a start with religious and civic organizations in the 1940’s and 50’s as they supported fair payments to local farmers or producers and expanded these practices into international trade for foods, crafts and art. Throughout history, fair trade has been practiced in principled civil societies with occasional flourishes of great success.

In 1988 the Max Havelaar Foundation founded the first fair trade labeling program, opening the way to today’s increasingly extensive and often expensive number of certification programs seeking the attention and support of consumers. Unfortunately, a few of these organizations act as thought they, and only they, are the true purveyors of fair trade and that only through their specific certification processes is anyone to be considered a true fair trade participant. Regrettably, many of these organizations provide the small producing farmer with little, if any, voice in their management or price setting policies.

Economic Justice
Social Justice

What does the Project do other than purchase coffee at a fair price? The reply to such a question is multi-faceted. On the surface, purchasing coffee to provide small farmers a fair price and distributing coffee to justice conscious consumers is what the Coffee Project does. However, the support the Project provides, both directly and indirectly, to the farmers and their communities goes far beyond that.

Hospital in Meru Diocese

First of all, as part of the Partnership between the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Nikoranga HospitalELCA and the Diocese of Meru of the ELCT, the Coffee Project plays a significant role in the Partnership activities that support –

A local hospital and clinics
Schools and scholarship programs
Hunger relief and water supply programs
Parish to parish partnering, and numerous other long and short term projects.

Although the Coffee Project does not necessarily fund any of these directly, it does provide a solid platform that is used to open doors and start building interest in the Partnership, both in the US and in Tanzania.

Local School Children

Secondly, the justice-based pricing provides the farmers with the ability to support their communities. With the higher prices that they receive, the farmers have funds to:

Send their children to school and pay school fees, which means teachers get paid and have funds for supplies
Visit the doctor when needed and pay for medication
Attend to prenatal check ups, deliver babies in the hospital, and take their children for postnatal checkups and immunizations
Open savings accounts
Spend money in community stores and at community businesses that in turn allow that store or business owner to participate in the first 4 items.

The Mt. Meru Coffee Project is really not just about the coffee. It is about supporting a sustainable economic activity that can yield economic and social justice which, coincidently, happens to be delivered through a fully enjoyable product.

DOING JUSTICE NEVER TASTED SO GOOD!

The Project and the the justice based fair pricing it provides has encouraged a rebirth of coffee farming as a sustainable family supporting source of income for thousands of farmers in the region.

The number of farmers participating in the Project has grown from 200 in 2002 to over 2,000 and continues growing today.

The prices paid by other coffee buyers in the region have increased to compete with the just and fair pricing the project provides. This increases the incomes for all coffee farmers in the region and enables many to now access health care, send children to school, and actively support their communities and churches.

Project income has provided for new processing equipment and facilitated improvements in the farmer’s cooperative processing centers, the purchase of a truck to facilitate transport of the coffee, and the development of micro credit loan programs to assist the farmers and their cooperatives.