Poor Farmer

By Alexis Okeowo, Kampala Inter Press Service (Johannesburg) Via All Africa August 29, 2007 Coffee producers in Uganda suffer from an unfair trade relationship with Europe, even though their beans produce some of the best quality coffee in the world, says the Ugandan coffee industry's governing body. "The biggest loser is the person directly involved in coffee bean production," says Henry Ngabirano, director of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority. Moreover, Ugandan producers get an "unequal share of the revenue generated by coffee beans". Combined, Ugandan growers and exporters receive 6 percent of the finished product's price, according to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority. "This shows what level of exploitation there is," Ngabirano says. Coffee beans are Uganda's top cash crop and their production accounts for nearly half of the nation's economy. The country has become a leading Robusta producer since the political crisis erupt...

EQUAL Exchange, the Edinburgh-based Fairtrade and organic food pioneer, is to be the first licensed distributor for speciality Ethiopian coffee in the UK under a new trading deal set to benefit the world's poorest farmers. Newly established trademarks on speciality Ethiopian coffees, which have sparked controversy in the United States and were originally contested by Starbucks, mean that from September only licensed distributors will be able to sell certain coffees in the UK. And Equal's Yirgacheffe ground coffee will become the first to be licensed under the Ethiopian Coffee and Trademarking Initiative on September 5. While the initiative is unlikely to boost Equal's bottom line to any significant extent, managing director Andy Good said he was proud to be in the scheme. "It's a big breakthrough for a developing country to use international trade rules, which often work against poor producers, to benefit small-scale farmers. "The trademark agreements allow th...