What Do Fair Trade Coffee Facts and Figures Show for Farmers?

Fair trade certification gives smallholders in Ethiopia's Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union a way to earn more from coffee, but the numbers show how far growers still fall short. Green beans from the region sell for about £15 per kilogram in Western markets, while the farmer receives roughly £0.05 in hand, a gap that keeps most families in prolonged poverty.

Founded in June 1999 by 35 smallholder cooperatives with 23,691 coffee farmers, OCFCU is Ethiopia's largest fair trade producer organization, and 7,107 of its members hold fair trade certification. About 630,000 people in Oromia depend on coffee, and after the International Coffee Agreement collapsed in 1989, three decades of low prices pushed many of these coffee farmers toward malnutrition, unpaid schooling costs and no household electricity.

Yirgacheffe is one of Ethiopia's most renowned coffee regions, and behind this cup of floral and citrus notes lies a story of fair trade and smallholder struggle. This sun-dried Yirgacheffe from the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union not only carries the hopes of local coffee farmers escaping poverty, but also wins over countless coffee lovers with its G2 grade, organic certification, and richly layered flavors. This article will walk you through how the Oromia cooperative grew against the odds during three decades of low coffee prices, and share tasting notes and brewing suggestions for Front Street's Veda Flower beans.

Ethiopian Coffee Yirgacheffe:

Yirgacheffe comes from Ethiopia's Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, or OCFCU for short. Ethiopia is widely recognized as the birthplace of coffee, with over 1.2 million farmers and 15 million families depending on coffee for their livelihoods, and coffee exports accounting for more than 65% of the country's total export value.

But pricing power has always rested in the hands of exchanges in New York and London, not the growers. Before 1989, the International Coffee Organization set a minimum purchase price that required mutual agreement between producing and purchasing countries. However, after the International Coffee Agreement collapsed in 1989, coffee prices declined continuously over the following three decades, pushing coffee producers worldwide into extreme poverty.

OCFCU is Ethiopia's largest fair trade coffee producer organization. Founded in June 1999 by 35 smallholder cooperatives with a total of 23,691 coffee farmers, its original purpose was to pool the strength of smallholders and survive in a harsh market environment. Of these, 7,107 producers have obtained fair trade certification.

In the Oromia region, about 630,000 people depend on coffee for their livelihood. The green beans they produce sell for about £15 per kilogram (roughly 250 RMB) in Western markets, yet the growers receive only £0.05 (about 0.5 RMB) in hand. For most families, this income means prolonged poverty, malnutrition, lack of clean drinking water and clothing, no household electricity, and children unable to attend school.

One coffee farmer from the Oromia cooperative described it this way: ‘The problem is, whenever the coffee is about to be harvested and sold, someone walks into the field and says: one kilogram for 0.75 birr (£0.05), take it or leave it. We have no room to negotiate at all—it's entirely up to him alone. In the past we relied on growing coffee to exchange for clothes and food; now we can barely support our families.’

Cooperative manager Tadesse Meskela said: ‘The only goal is to get money into the pockets of coffee farmers and improve their lives.’ But he also emphasized that the cooperative never forces farmers to sell their coffee to it, and its success is built entirely on offering a fair price.

Starting in 2001, the Oromia cooperative expanded from 34 small cooperatives to 101, and membership grew from 22,500 to 75,000 (the development of fair trade cooperatives has not been smooth sailing, and numbers fluctuate). Over the same period, surplus grew from 289,000 birr (about NT$870,000 in today's terms) to 6.9 million birr (about NT$20.26 million). Initial investment was 825,000 birr, and today the investment scale has reached 17.4 million birr. In just six years, operational scale expanded 2,100-fold, and all the results belong to the smallholders.

Seventy percent of sales and export earnings goes to 74 cooperatives, and smallholders invest fair trade surplus into production capacity and equipment upgrades. The remaining 30% is used to improve production, provide relief in lean years, or fund community development. Another form of support the cooperative provides to farmers is reflected in its ‘community improvement program,’ which has invested 2.7 million birr (about NT$8.25 million). Concrete results include: building 4 schools and 25 classrooms, giving more than 5,000 children access to education; establishing clean drinking water systems for 3 villages, ending a tragedy in which more than 3,000 people died from contaminated water sources and putting an end to infectious diseases and deaths caused by unclean water; and building 4 new medical clinics that treat more than 6,000 patients each year and shorten waiting times.

(Children from the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union are studying at school)

(A school built with fair trade community development funds)

(The Oromia cooperative used rebate funds from fair trade roasters to improve its water supply system and provide clean water for coffee farmers)

Smallholders cooperating and sharing resources amplifies their impact. The cooperative's development not only benefits individual farmers, but also the entire community.

Tadesse Meskela pointed out that the cooperative's most critical impact is on price. When international coffee prices plummeted in 2002/3, the cooperative still purchased farmers' coffee at prices 250%-300% higher than multinational corporations. Even now, the price paid to farmers remains 80%-100% higher. This means smallholders can afford to send their children to school, buy clean clothing, and repair their homes. Every bit of income moves families and communities one step forward, away from poverty.

For Tadesse Meskela, trade is far more effective than aid in driving development. He said: ‘If you give me money to buy food today, tomorrow I'll have to ask again... Invest in my means of production, and I won't have to hold out my hand for money anymore.’ Today's society certainly has the capacity to provide better aid, but the Oromia case sets an example for more than 8 million cooperatives worldwide: they too are empowering their members to escape poverty through work, and perhaps now is the time for the world to recognize their value. Ethiopia is often labeled as poor, and the success of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union stands as important proof of fair trade's positive impact, even becoming the protagonist and setting of the film Black Gold.

Coffee tasting notes here:

This Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from Front Street comes from the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, holds organic certification from the UK Soil Association, grows in mountainous areas at 1,500-2,000 meters above sea level, and is graded G2 (G1 is extremely rare, while G2 is already a very good grade). The green beans are verdant and fresh, slender and elegant in shape, with a crisp sound when they collide. After brewing, the liquid is silky smooth, rich in floral and citrus aromas, with a long-lasting fragrance in the nasal cavity, along with slight herbal and caramel notes, high sweetness, and a distinct yet gentle acidity with a rising, lingering finish. To satisfy the palates of connoisseurs, both light and medium roasts are offered this time. The light roast has more pronounced acidity and richer layering, while the medium roast has a heavier sweetness. Choose according to personal preference—there is no good or bad. It is best to make a reservation in advance to avoid finding it sold out. Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is 227g per bag for 85 RMB.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.