Crisis of the Bean

So since the Serengeti, lots of exciting things have happened.  We went to an art gallery where I got to eat ice cream and pet domesticated dogs!!  Secondly, my bandamates and I decided to completely rearrange our room.  Zarah and I pushed all of our beds together so we could watch a movie one night…but now it’s turned into a permanent queen-sized, mosquito net bed.  We thought it was great idea… Kat was not so fond.  Lastly, we’ve really been embracing the bucket shower.   You can really go a full week without feeling dirty when incorporating the bucket shower wisely.

Well, enough of me pretending I’m going to leave a normal blog post with no lecturing…let’s just jump right into it.  The US consumes 1/5^th of all the world’s coffee (largest consumer in the world).  Only a few Americans realize that those in the coffee industry often work in “sweatshops in the fields.” — in other words, the cost of production, for small coffee farmers, exceeds the amount that they actually make…continuing a cycle of poverty.  What’s the solution I am getting at? Fair Trade!  You may wonder, in a world full of fair-trade/free-trade/certified organic/all-natural etc. what does fair trade even mean?? Fair Trade for dummies- When you see coffee that is labeled, “Fair Trade certified” this essentially means that an importer must meet strict international criteria. First, they must pay a minimum price/lb of $1.26.  This provides a very necessary credit to farmers and also covers assistance to get to the organic farms. Fair Trade indirectly helps to improve broader issues such as:  community development, education, and health.  So the crisis…Coffee prices have plummeted.  They are around $.60-$.70/lb. With world market prices being so low, majority of farmers can no longer maintain their families and their land. Meanwhile coffee companies refuse to lower consumer prices and are pocketing the difference. The drastic fall in coffee prices creates poverty and hunger for thousands of small producers in developing countries.  Fair-trade is a simple alternative that is overwhelmingly beneficial to small-scale farmers.  It also supports social justice & environmental sustainability.

Speaking of environmental sustainability, a few of us visited Gibb’s farm (Karatu, TZ) today.  It consists of 30 acres of organic coffee, 10 acres of organic vegetables & fruit, 5 acres of flowers   & herbs, and a working dairy & pig farm. The entire property is a model of ecologically sustainable agriculture. Everything is grown organically using only natural fertilizer from the farm. Reclaimed water is used whenever possible. All buildings and furniture are built using local materials and all bottles are broken down, recycled, and used in building foundations. 90% of the hot water is heated using solar power. In short, every possible element of Gibb’s Farm is environmentally friendly and sustainable.  Here is an actual coffee tree plant  the red beans seem weird right? I thought so too. They’re actually super sugary and taste nothing like coffee.  Next we got to feel    and smell  the deep aroma of the drying beans. If you are still able to bite a bean in this area then the bean is not yet dry enough to process.  Here  is where the workers sort through the beans (extract the broken or rotten beans) and place them through the grinder that removes the skin.  Seeing the intricate process of harvesting coffee beans and the dedication and time that these workers put in made me want to scream fair-trade like a crazy woman.  But luckily the owner gave us some of the first grown strawberries of the season before I could open my mouth   (note: I hadn’t eaten a strawberry since I left the states!) After the tour, we hung out by the tembo moto (“elephant-fire”)   they keep this fire burning at night to ward off any elephant visitors…but really…I thought he was kidding too but that’s the only purpose of the fire pit.  Before we left we got to relax in the gardens and taste test their coffee and fruit juices!   <– yes, this is school… TGIAfrica.

☮ Hannah

This entry was posted on Monday, October 18th, 2010 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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