Proposed Global Fund Would Provide Grower Support

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CAMPINAS, Brazil

In July Economics professor Jeffrey D. Sachs challenged the global coffee community to establish a $10 billion fund to aid growers.

The keynote address by Sachs, a leader in sustainable development, was attended by 1,500 at the second World Coffee Producers Forum (WCPF). Sachs proposed the coffee industry contribute an initial $2.5 billion. This will double with private and public funds and attract donors to double again, suggests Sachs. Funds would be used to reinvest in technology and productivity.

Combined, Brazil and Vietnam now produce 50% of the world’s coffee and account for 83% of the increase in production since 1995. Investments in mechanization, soil productivity, and efficient processing are an example to growers worldwide. Their efficiency at scale largely determines the base price of coffee. At $1 per pound, prices are only viable for mechanized producers, not traditional growers, according to Sachs.

“Any country that hasn’t experienced a productivity increase will feel a tremendous squeeze right now,” he said. The result is “continued extreme poverty, child labor, deforestation, and limited access to basic services,” according to Sachs who completed the 15-month study on behalf of WCPF. The forum was organized by the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association (ABIC), the Brazilian National Coffee Council (CNC) and the Minasul coffee cooperative. The event drew an elite cadre of coffee leaders from 30 producing countries.

Workshops produced a consensus that social protection for the poorest farmers is needed. Access to credit and markets is critical to increasing productivity and profits. In addition, forum attendees pointed to the need for basic services in many of the world’s coffee-growing regions. These include enforcement of labor laws, health and education, and training. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization reports the number of malnourished people worldwide increased to 821 million in 2018, the third year in succession. Today almost two billion people experience moderate to severe food insecurity, according to FAO.

ABIC’s Vanusia Nogueira read three forum resolutions: to develop a mechanism that facilitates sharing information from producing regions through traceability visible to end consumers; the creation of a technological platform for business and price formulation; technical assistance and training for producers to better understand property management and market risk

- Kelly Stein