More great info and another wonderful short video from GOOD Magazine. I’m not on their payroll, I swear! 
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Bikes to Rwanda
Lugging huge bags of coffee through the unpaved hills of Rwanda to a processing plant was back-breaking work for the Karaba coffee co-op.
In this original GOOD video see how a collaboration between Karaba and a Portland, Oregon, coffee roaster has solved that problem, boosted production, and given birth to a new non-profit.
The above video clip was about coffee coming from Rwanda. There is a relatively new documentary movie out entitled Black Gold which is about a coffee farmer, Tadesse Meskela, in Ethiopia who is trying to save his coffee farmers from bankruptcy. Here is a clip from that movie:
Statistics from BLACK GOLD the movie
- Ethiopia is the largest producer of coffee in Africa. Over 15 million Ethiopians depend on coffee for their survival. Coffee provides approximately 67 percent of Ethiopia’s export revenue.
- The Ethiopian coffee farmer receives between 1-4 Birr (20-50 cents) for a kilo of coffee. In the West, retail coffee consumers pay 2,000 Birr ($230) for that same kilo.
- Globally, more than two billion cups of coffee are consumed every day.
- Since 1990, retail sales from coffee have increased from $30 billion to $80 billion a year.
- The world coffee market is dominated by four multinational corporations: Kraft, Nestle, Proctor & Gamble and Sara Lee.
- The international price of coffee is established by commodity trading exchanges in New York and London. In many years, coffee has been the second most actively traded commodity in the world.
- Ethiopian women who pick through coffee beans to ensure that no bad beans are shipped out earn less than 50 cents a day for eight hours of work.
- Seven million people in Ethiopia are dependent on emergency food aid every year. The United Nations Development Programme estimates Ethiopia’s population at 75.6 million people.
- Over the last 20 years, Africa’s share of world trade has fallen to one percent. If that share could be raised to two percent, it would generate $70 billion a year—five times the amount the continent now receives in aid.
- Coffee is widely believed to have originated in Ethiopia. The coffee ceremony is a sacred Ethiopian tradition and can take up to several hours. The beans are roasted and then ground by hand. The coffee is prepared in a special pot and poured into special cups. In many parts of Ethiopia, the coffee ceremony takes place up to three times per day.
- Ethiopia is the sixth largest producer of coffee in the world and the largest African producer and exporter.
How to Get Involved
- Get a group together to watch “Black Gold.” Buy the DVD to show at your house, in a coffee-house, and on your campus.
- Lead a discussion after the film. Oxfam has helped Independent Television develop a discussion guide and a facilitator’s guide.
- Join Oxfam and Co-Op America’s “Check Out Fair Trade” initiative. Click here to learn how you can get your local supermarket to stock, market, and display more Fair Trade products.
- Read more about Oxfam’s coffee work. Learn more about fair trade and the crisis facing coffee cooperatives here. Read about Oxfam’s campaign to get roasters such as Starbucks to recognize the rights of Ethiopian coffee farmers here.
- Support Oxfam’s coffee work. Help partner organizations such as the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union by making a donation to Oxfam America.
- Get updates on this and other Oxfam campaigns. Join our email list.
See below article about Starbucks
A step in the right direction (but I’m still boycotting them )
Oxfam Celebrates Win-Win Outcome for Ethiopian Coffee Farmers and Starbucks
Filed under: Global Family
