Poor Farmer

Note from Wondwossen : The MoU that is signed between ECX and USAID appears to be signaling an introduction of an electronic coding and marking system along with yet another attempt, after the failed Direct Specialty Trade (DST) platform, to routing farmers' cooperatives to ECX. If this is confirmed, it will be more problematic and needing serious scrutiny and monitoring. It is to be recalled that the new coffee law, which has mandated the trading of all coffee at ECX, exempts cooperatives and commercial farms from the ECX platform and grants them the right to directly trade with buyers and exporters. What would these cooperatives now get by trading through ECX that they couldn't find in direct trade with ultimate buyers? This and related questions call for a closer look at what the ECX/USAID plan is about. As such, the subtitle of this article, "smallholder farmers are going to directly participate in ECX's trading system" is misleading. Under the curr...

COOPCAB, a Haitian coffee co-op that now includes 5,000 members, markets its products internationally while investing money in local reforestation efforts. By Daniel Jensen Global Envision February 1, 2013 On the third anniversary of the quake that killed nearly 300,000, a growing coffee co-op is writing its own success story with loans and homegrown management. Haiti can seem like a place where relief efforts lead only to more disasters, especially in the agricultural sector. Though 70 percent of Haitians are farmers, 60 to 70 percent of the country’s food is imported due to reduced tariffs designed to lower food prices. Meanwhile, further natural disasters have hindered recovery efforts and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund has announced that it is winding down operations, removing an important source of funding. At the same time, American lawmakers recently extended  farm legislation, including subsidies that allow U.S.  agricul...