Hawaiian farmer stands up for coffee bean labelling rights
Did you know that Hawaii is the only area in the United States of America that grows its own coffee?
The Hawaiian farmers are very proud of their Kona coffee beans, grown on slopes of volcanic rock, which are renowned the world over and they will fight to preserve the reputation and brand of their coffee.
This was evidenced recently, as reported in the local press, when Hawaiian Paul Uster took on a supermarket chain that was not giving his country’s coffee beans their due, as required by law.
What happened? Uster was on holiday in California and noticed that the packaging of some Kona coffee was incorrect.
The coffee was marketed as the Kona blend as part of the Safeway brand. Now, most people would not realise that this is, in fact, in breach of the Aloha state laws which insist that Hawaiian-coffee must (a) be clear about the percentage of Kona coffee beans in a blend and (b) state whether it is grown in Hawaii.
These laws were created both as information for customers and also to preserve the reputation of the premier coffee bean.
The supermarket blend was just under $9 per pound in weight, but 8 ounces of pure Kona can fetch a stunning $25.
However, Uster who is himself a farmer and also a direct of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association realised immediately that the Hawaiian protocol had not been followed.
Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture became involved and a meeting has taken place between Safeway supermarkets and the farmers, who await to see how Safeway will deal in future with their labelling.
Nicaraguan coffee farmers helped by charities – as seen by actress
In the words of the actress and Brideshead Revisited star, Hayley Atwell, she ‘partly owes [her] career to coffee.’ She worked in a coffee shop to earn the air fare to California and it was there that she developed her acting career. Atwell is about to boost her celebrity status in the new Hollywood movie ‘Captain America.’ However, the actress has her head firmly on her shoulders and has recently visited Nicaragua to see another side of the coffee industry.
…continue reading Nicaraguan coffee farmers helped by charities – as seen by actress
Ambitious plans from Kenyan coffee farmers
Kenya has a successful coffee heritage and current farmers in Meru would like to bring back the heyday of their country in terms of the coffee industry. The Golden Age for these farmers took place in the late 70s and 80s and success was there for the grabbing. Africans have spoken, too, of their fondness for the countryside which was transformed with green coffee plants.
Farmers in Meru are drawing up a plan so that they can aim high. After the boom years, economic forces changed the agricultural landscape and farmers were diverted into products such as macadamia plants, tea and miraa. However, they now want to return to the more traditional Kenyan business of coffee.
…continue reading Ambitious plans from Kenyan coffee farmers
Colombian Coffee Farmers Hopeful over H2 Harvest
Whilst there has been some concern as to Columbia’s coffee output due to poor weather conditions and tree renovation, local coffee farmers have anticipated a strong harvest for the second half of the year to boost overall performance for 2010.
Expecting a total output of 10 million 60kg bags for the year, Columbia – the leading producer of high quality washed Arabica coffee, is predicting that it will be able to achieve an ambitious 6 million bags in the latter half of 2010, potentially one of the best harvests in several years.
This view has been backed through interviews with numerous coffee operators in addition to a visit to a coffee plantation in central Columbia, where farmers such as Victor Alvarez proudly showed their ripe fruit-bearing trees, soon be harvested.
Since the country’s output for the first half of 2010 was only 4 million bags, some coffee exporters and industry analysts were fearing that the second half year harvest would at best reach 5.5 million bags, however there is increasing support for the figure of 6 million bags, 9 per cent higher than originally expected.
Coffee growers’ representatives in the provinces of Quindio, Caldas, Antioquia, Risaralda and Valle del Cauca, which together account for almost two thirds of the country’s total production, have expressed their confidence in this target. With growers in these central regions harvesting their main second crop of the year during from October to December and their first between April and June, warmer weather in the more southern of the provinces may allow for an additional collection between now and the end of the year.
Bill Gates committed to help educate and equip local Ugandan coffee farmers
Bill Gates’ Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), in conjunction with Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS), plan to donate $4 million over a four-year period in order to help local coffee farmers in Uganda.
Dana Boggess, head of agricultural development at the foundation, said “We want to make the lives of the farmers much better and we are proud to be partners in this project”.
…continue reading Bill Gates committed to help educate and equip local Ugandan coffee farmers
Ugandan farmers to receive two million Robusta Coffee Wilt Disease (CWD) resistant plantlets this year.
The boost to Uganda’s coffee production industry was announced by Dr. Africano Kangire, the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), head of Coffee Research Centre (COREC).
“We have been able to achieve this coffee plantlet multiplication by using somatic embryogenesis, which uses cells from a coffee leaf plant. Each leaf produces up to 20,000 plantlets,” Dr. Kangire commented.
Coffee trees have more than 100 leaves, meaning that around two million plantlets could be produced in a single year, as opposed to more conventional methods that would produce around 60.
Kangire hopes that these plantlets will help to meet the target of 200 million others needed to replace those that were destroyed by CWD in 2002.
Ugandan coffee farmers have received training in the production of plantlets using the somatic embryogenesis method, and are now carrying out the process with seven CWD resistant varieties.
CWD first hit Ugandan coffee plants in 1993, after crossing over the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“By 2002, the disease had destroyed about 50% of the Robusta coffee in the countryside. We had to carry out research and develop seven Kituza CWD resistant varieties,” added Dr. Kangire.
The Ugandan Government is dragging its heels on investment in coffee research despite many feeling the need to develop drought resistant coffee varieties as fears over global warming continue to mount.
Last year, coffee production in the country fell by around 10% due to prolonged drought caused by severe weather conditions. It is hoped that the resistant varieties will help in redressing the balance.