Dubbed ‘Black Gold’ in a 2006 film, coffee is the second most valuable commodity in the world after oil. But in Oromia and across Ethiopia, smallholder coffee growers find this hard to believe: “What I understand is that people in your country drink it, but I receive nothing,” says one farmer. Coffee growers rarely get a fair deal and Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world.

Union of co-operatives

Just over ten years ago, the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (OCFCU) was founded and today, under the leadership of Tadesse Meskela it represents over 100,000 smallholder coffee farmers and their families. This union of cooperatives has turned around the fortunes of coffee growing communities in the Oromia region.

“Our members are benefiting from the profits made by the cooperative,” says Meskela. “Schools have been built, farmers earn a guaranteed price for their coffee and the cooperative can provide enhanced food security to farmers and their families.”

Such is the success of the OCFCU, more coffee cooperatives haven been founded in Yirgachefe and Sidama. Both of these regions grow unique, world-renowned coffee.

Fair Trade for co-operative Union members

Cooperatives have brought Ethiopian farmers direct access to global markets. Miju Adula is the Chairman of the Kilenso Mokonsia Cooperative: “We used to sell our coffee to exporters who would cheat us and sometimes they did not pay us at all. Now we know the value of our coffee and we receive profits from the coffee sold by the Union”. Coffee growing in Ethiopia doesn’t just provide export revenue; it is engrained in the cultural life of rural communities, who have been growing coffee for centuries.

Climate change and variable weather conditions

Access to world markets and a fair price for the coffee that Ethiopian farmers produce isn’t the only determining factor to the success of a coffee growing community. Like all agricultural producers, coffee farmers must hope for good climatic conditions each season; not too hot, not too cold and perfectly timed precipitation. Without these conditions, yields decrease, coffee quality is poor and the incidence of plant disease increases. Cooperatives have given their members access to fair market prices but can they support growers in the face of climate change?

For fairtrade coffee company Cafédirect, a recent winner at the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards, waiting to see how climate change affects their small holder cooperative farmers hasn’t been an option.

In 2007, Cafédirect launched a Public-Private Partnership programme known as Adaption to Climate Change for smallholders (AdapCC), with the German Technical Cooperative, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit. Together they have worked with cooperative tea and coffee produces in Latin America and East Africa to identify the threats from climate change.

“I have never known the weather to be so unpredictable,” says Willington Wamayeye, the General Manager of the Gumutindo Coffee Cooperative in Uganda which supplies coffee to Cafédirect.

“The coffee plants are badly affected – flowering is stopping. Last year alone we lost about 40% of our coffee production because of climate change.” With the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicting rising temperatures and increasingly erratic precipitation across East Africa, coffee growers are at an increasing risk of crop failure and declining yields.

Adaption

Through the AdapCC partnership project, small-scale farmers worked with experts to recognise changes in climate that threaten coffee production. Growers were involved in identifying low-input technological and management changes that can mitigate the actions of climate change. Such steps can hugely reduce the vulnerability of communities and ensure that they keep on producing coffee, no matter what the weather does. The ethos amongst AdapCC farmers is “the climate changes and I adapt to it!”

Adaptation can be simple, but knowledge about the changing processes is required. In the instance of climate change and predicting the weather for each growing season, meteorological data is needed, but according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), East Africa has one of the lowest densities of weather stations anywhere in the world. This lack of information makes predicting weather and climate in some areas almost impossible. But this needn’t be the case.

In a partnership between the mobile phone company Ericcson, the Global Humanitarian Forum and the WMO, it is hoped that by 2012 large areas of East Africa will be covered by weather stations hosted on mobile phone masts. This much-needed information can then be used to monitor trends and changes in the weather and climate. Companies developing partnerships with developing world communities and actively pursuing corporate social responsibility programmes can bring solutions to problems that have big results.

Partnership between small co-operatives and global companies critical for future

Back in Ethiopia, the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union has successfully transformed the lives of thousands of coffee farmers over the past twelve years. Tadesse Meskela has huge ambitions for the cooperative, but he also faces new challenges as he strives to support over half a million Ethiopians who are dependent upon the profits made through the selling of its coffee. The answers to these challenges don’t just lie in smallholder farmers working together in cooperatives; partnerships with global private sector companies and non-governmental organisations will be critical.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

The Wales Co-operative Centre offers support and advice to Welsh businesses looking to adopt a Fair Trade policy or start a specialist Fairtrade business.

‘Wales’ Favourite Fair Trade Cuppa Poll’ was run by the Wales Co-operative Centre to discover where people go for their favourite ethical brew.

27 businesses were nominated including cafés, pubs and the Arriva Trains Wales service which serves fair trade beverages on their long distance services.  1395 votes were cast in total.

Elizabeth Hudson, Fair Trade Marketing Officer at the Wales Co-operative Centre, says: “Cafés selling Fair Trade drinks have a loyal following of fans.  The poll was a great opportunity to find the nation’s favourite.”

With 418 votes, Coffee Culture in Swansea took second place, and The Red Cafe in Mumbles claimed third place with 210 votes. The Herb Garden in Llandrindod Wells came in fourth with 71 votes, and at 45 votes, The Embassy Café of Cardiff took fifth place.

Despite hard times, cafés remains an affordable treat.  Indeed sales of fair trade coffee have increased 14% to just over 14,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to an estimated 6.4 million cups of Fairtrade coffee drunk every day. Sales of fair trade tea have increased 5% by volume in the last year, equivalent to 9.3 million cups of tea drunk every day. The fair trade option may only represent an extra 1 pence cost to your regular cuppa.

Overall, sales of Fairtrade products have risen by 40% in 2010 to an estimated retail value of £1.17bn compared with £836 million in 2009.

As part of the activity for Fairtrade Fortnight, Fair Trade Wales made a special showing of the film ‘Black Gold’ at their pop-up shop in the Morgan Arcade, Cardiff. After the 2006 film was made, Starbucks adopted a Fairtrade policy, and the café chain immediately became the world’s largest buyer of fair trade coffee.

Thursday’s announcement by The Wales Co-operative Centre is further evidence that there is still room for ethics in the hard times.

Visit  http://fairtradecuppa.org/ for more information.

The Wales Co-operative Centre offers support and advice to Welsh businesses looking to adopt a Fair Trade policy or start a specialist Fairtrade business.

Our annual poll is all about trying to find the café or other catering outlet that sells Wales’ favourite hot Fair Trade drink.

What’s more, one lucky voter will be drawn at random from the ballots to win a hamper filled with Fair Trade goodies!

By taking part, Fairtrade devotees can show the world how much they value their daily Fair Trade cuppa, and the whole project adds value to the Fairtrade brand.

So vote:

• Online through our website at www.walescooperative.org/fair-trade-cuppa-poll
• Via SMS* by texting CUPPA to 78866 with the café’s name; the café’s town; your own name; and your email address. (Those last two details allow yourself to be entered into the hamper draw.)
• Tell us about your favourite café at fairtradecuppa.org
• Finally, cafés across Wales have Freepost voting postcards which can be sent back to us at the Wales Co-operative Centre.

This presitigious award has been won in previous years by Milgi’s Lounge Bar, Cardiff (2009) and Coffee Culture in Llandudno (2010). Last year, 1390 votes were cast in the Cuppa Poll, so lets try to top this in 2011!

The poll closes at midnight on 13th March, the last day of Fairtrade Fortnight 2011. We will announce the winners shortly after this.

Please visit fairtradecuppa.org for more information and to request posters, coasters or postcards to display in your café.

*Text votes will be charged at your standard rate.

Be they Fairtrade clothes (show us a few fashion shots!), Fairtrade food or any other products you reguarly buy and use.

The theme for Fairtrade Fortnight 2011 is ‘Show Off Your Label’ so that what we want you to do!

We’ve started the group off with a few shots of Cardiff’s statues kindly sporting some Fairtrade clothing for us:

The panther on the animal wall at Cardiff Castle wears a Fair Trade hoodie from Gossypium:

‘People Like Us’, wearing a woman’s blue cardigan with a Fairtrade themed cotton apron; both items come from Cardiff Fair Trade shop Fair Do’s. The male figure is wearing one of Gossypium’s cotton hats, and the cotton hat and scarf worn by his dog is from the same set:

‘Girl’ by Robert Thomas is wearing a Fair Trade cotton scarf and Fair Trade woollen hat also from Fair Do’s:

To find out what else we’re doing to promote Fairtrade Fortnight, please visit our website Fairtrade Fortnight at the Wales Co-operative Centre.

The Wales Co-operative Centre offers support and advice to Welsh businesses looking to adopt a Fair Trade policy or start a specialist Fairtrade business.

The panther on the animal wall at Cardiff Castle wears a Fair Trade hoodie from Gossypium:

‘People Like Us’, wearing a woman’s blue cardigan with a Fairtrade themed cotton apron; both items come from Cardiff Fair Trade shop Fair Do’s. The male figure is wearing one of Gossypium’s cotton hats, and the cotton hat and scarf worn by his dog is from the same set:

‘Girl’ by Robert Thomas is wearing a Fair Trade cotton scarf and Fair Trade woollen hat also from Fair Do’s:

To see more photos please visit Wales Co-operative Centre on Flickr.

Two thirds of UK households buy fair trade products, yet less than 1% of the UK cotton market is fair trade. This suggests that while demand is high, the textiles trade is yet to tap those sales.

So in addition to our profile raising photos, we’re also mailing letters to businesses that encourage them to sell fair trade cotton products. But…we also printed the letters on fair trade cotton. That way, people in a position to supply the high demand for fair trade clothes etc. will have a sample of the cloth, as well as a host of reasons to buy it.

(In spite of the recession, people spent more on fair trade products, with the average spend rising by 5.5%. A free poll has also found that a massive 96% of consumers would pay extra for ethical goods. Recently, the fair trade market in Britain shattered the £1 bn. mark.)

See the buzz around fair trade cotton at www.bit.ly/hIEhiO. For fair trade enquiries, the Wales Co-operative Centre can be contacted on 0300 111 5050.

To find out what else we’re doing to promote Fairtrade Fortnight, please visit our website Fairtrade Fortnight at the Wales Co-operative Centre.

The Wales Co-operative Centre offers support and advice to Welsh businesses looking to adopt a Fair Trade policy or start a specialist Fairtrade business.

We are:

• Running the Fair Trade Cuppa Poll – vote for Wales’ Favourite Fair Trade cuppa!
• Dressing Cardiff statues in Fair Trade cotton. Photographer Nick Treharne has taken some shots for us, photos to come in the next blog post!
• Sending out 200 ‘letters‘ printed on Fairtade cotton to the Welsh clothing and textile industry to promote the use of Fairtrade cotton.
• On 10th March, we will be at Fair Trade Wales shop in the Morgan Arcade, Cardiff, for the showing of their film ‘Black Gold’ and to talk about the Fair Trade Cuppa Poll.

Fairtrade Fortnight starts on Monday 28th February.

Visit the Fairtrade Foundation’s website to find out how you can get involved in this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight and ‘Show Off Your Label’.

See what Fair Trade Wales are doing for Fairtrade Fortnight.

The Wales Co-operative Centre offers support and advice to Welsh businesses looking to adopt a Fair Trade policy or start a specialist Fairtrade business.

We have completely updated the site to make information easier to find. The new site will also allow us to add new features in the near future

We have a new Training section that includes a secure online booking and card payment process which means your place on your workshop of choice will be reserved straight away. Payment by cheque and BACS is still available.

All support for social enterprises and co-operatives can be found in our Business support section. For those looking for information about credit unions, this can be found in our Fair access to financial services section.

Please also note we have a new domain name – the website can now be found at <a href="http://“>www.walescooperative.org, although the original address www.walescoop.com will also bring you here.

Click.Connect.Discover from Communities 2.0 has also joined us with a new website. You can still find the site at www.clickconnectdiscover.org but it is also available linked from the Wales Co-operative Centre as ‘Help with technology’.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you would like to offer feedback on our new website.

For business support for co-operatives and enterprises, help and support for the use of digital technologies, credit union advice, Fair Trade for businesses and Training, visit the Wales Co-operative Centre.

The Fair Trade Cuppa poll campaign tea party will now be held at Milgi’s in Roath on Friday 18th February between 4pm and 6pm.

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We’re holding a campaign party for our Fair Trade Cuppa poll at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff. It’s on Friday 11th February and starts at 4pm.

Naturally it will be a tea party (or a coffee evening, if you prefer!), so come along and talk to cafés and prospective voters about Fair Trade.

When you vote,  you can choose to enter our prize draw to win a Fair Trade hamper.

How to vote:

Text CUPPA to 78866 with your favourite Fairtrade café’s name, town, your name and your email address. The last two details let us know who to send the hamper to.

Or fill out a postcard at the Fair Trade Cuppa tea party at Chapter on the 11th.

If you’d like to help promote the poll (or promote your premises!) get in touch with us at info@walescooperative.org or phone 0300 111 5050 and ask William Sullivan for a promotional pack.

For more details, please see http://fairtradecuppa.org.

Ingredients:

1lb self raising flour
1lb Traidcraft mixed fruit
2tbsp Fairtrade marmalade
1 large free-range egg
4oz Fairtrade sugar
1/2 pint warm Fairtrade tea (black)
1 tsp ground mixed spice (Fairtrade)

Method:

Mix together mixed fruit and sugar in a large bowl.
Pour tea over this mixture, stir well and leave to soak overnight (or for 8 hours).
Stir in flour, spice, marmalade and beaten egg.
Line a 3lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper, place mixture into this tin and cook :
Gas mark 3 / 170c for 1hr 10mins.
Leave to stand for 5 mins then remove from tin, and remove paper.
Leave to cool on cooling rack.

Such goods include eco–friendly travel, food products such as Fairtrade, and other goods.

Beneath the totals, there have been some winners and losers. Fairtrade has enjoyed significant growth. Organic food has suffered.

Some of this can be explained by the increasing move of the Fairtrade label into the mainstream. For instance, over the period covered by the report, companies like Cadbury have introduced Fairtrade standards on mainstream products that are not sold to customers on the basis of the ethical link.

Whether the figures represent the rise of the ethical consumer, or the filtering of higher standards into the mainstream, is an open question.

Co–operative Financial Services seems to be in no doubt. Tim Franklin, the company’s chief operating officer, said: “This annual report clearly shows that the growth in ethical consumerism continues to outstrip the market as a whole. I have no doubt that this will come as a surprise to those commentators who thought ethical considerations would be the first casualty of an economic downturn.”

Source: Business Respect

The Wales Co-operative Centre offers help and support to businesses in Wales who would like to adopt a Fair Trade policy.