Poor Farmer

By Daniel Bergner The New York Times April 6, 2012 Jonathan Torgovnik/Reportage Andrew Rugasira, chief executive of Good African Coffee, in the hills near  Kasese, Uganda. When he set out to wedge his coffee onto supermarket shelves in England and America, Andrew Rugasira didn’t start by making phone calls from his home in Kampala,   Uganda. He didn’t begin by sending e-mails. The distance seemed too great for that. At one end of his business were farmers who, until he came along, thought their beans were purchased and carried off to make gunpowder. At the other were buyers at the corporate headquarters of chains like Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, Whole Foods and Wal-Mart. If he was going to succeed, he felt he would have to do it physically; it was as if he believed he could stretch himself to span the divide between the two worlds. So he got on a plane to London, without trying any advance contact. He checked into a London hotel, and from there he called...

By Damian Salla Tanzania Daily News   (Dar es Salaam) Published on March 28, 2012 Coffee could fetch Tanzania an income, worth over US$ 200 million - (T. Shs 300 billion) in foreign exchange annually, through the implementation of a comprehensive grass-root based intervention mapped out in the ten year national coffee development strategy. Capturing the country's enormous productive coffee potential, the strategy outlines (in meticulous detail) five objectives which, could transform the ailing coffee industry into a long term profitable business entity. According to Engineer Adolph Kumburu, Tanzania Coffee Board's (TCB) Director General, production of coffee has stagnated at 50,000 metric tonnes a year over the last three decades, despite vast opportunities which, include large tracts of volcanic soils suitable for high quality coffee farming. Tanzania has 4.8 million ha of land suitable for coffee farming, of which only 200,000 ha (some 35%) is utilised. ...

By Stephen Leighton Has Blog (From the March 2012 issue of Fresh Cup Magazine ) Ethiopia is one of the finest producers of specialty coffee in the world, and it’s the original, natural home of the coffee plant. But while the country is steeped in history, it has lately also become steeped in controversy and red tape. Coffee continues to be one of Ethiopia’s top exports, but its significance is now at an all-time low. In a contradictory development, coffee exports reached the highest-ever level in monetary terms in 2009 ($528 million), while at the same time falling to the lowest-ever share in Ethiopia’s total exports, at just 26 percent. This shows Ethiopia as the developing nation that it is, weaning itself from the dependency of coffee it has had for most of its recent history. It’s an understandable desire from the country, but the country’s move to better organize itself is having a dangerous repercussion: It’s essentially alienating the very buyers who most appreciat...

By Leslie Josephs The Wall Street Journal April 4, 2012 NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--A coffee trade group Wednesday warned importers and exporters about the use of bags made of synthetic fiber, a material that could fail to show damaging water content in beans. "With the increasing availability and use of synthetic bags, we feel it is critical to caution suppliers about GCA contract requirements so that they can continue to conduct lawful commerce and preserve the integrity of the U.S. commodities market," said Brian W. Loughman, chairman of the Green Coffee Association. The New York group, whose contract templates are used widely in the coffee trade, said some green, or unroasted, coffee suppliers were using bags of woven polypropylene and other non-natural fibers to ship coffee. Under GCA contract rules, bags must be made out of natural materials such as jute or burlap, and both parties must agree on the alternative packaging material at the time of contrac...

I'm back ... after making a swift detour through the treacherous and brutal roads of Ethiopian politics to deliver a message to the government of Ethiopia and our donors. At a time when the majority of Ethiopians are struggling for sheer survival, a few well-connected rascals are bleeding the country by misusing their powers and engaging in corrupt and fraudulent activities. As the Prime Minister himself told the public during his most recent appearance at the parliament, his government is infested by corrupt individuals ("thieves," to use his own words). Whereas, the general public - the millions who are languishing under the systemic oppression and exploitation - feel in despair that they have been let down by everyone, including the Prime Minister, who touts "economic development" and seriously doubt the sincerity of the Prime Minister's tough talk about fighting corruption. Corruption is not a new phenomenon in the country. The only difference ...