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There is a crisis destroying the livelihoods of 25 million coffee producers around the world. The crisis is clearly related in the form of drastic fall in coffee prices. Farmers sell at a heavy loss while branded coffee sells at a hefty profit. The coffee crisis has become a development disaster whose impacts will be felt for a long time.

In India, coffee is more than an agricultural export product— it is also a social, institutional and cultural fabric that is at the heart of the rural societies in the traditional coffee growing areas. It offers direct work opportunities to around half a million workers in areas where there is no alternative occupation. It is also an indispensable part of a fragile eco system in the Western and Eastern Ghats. Majority of the coffee growers own an acre or less than one acre of land.

There are however not many detailed accounts of the crisis in Indian coffee industry and the role of various actors in the coffee value chain and responsible business practices. Under these circumstances PiC is working towards attaining sustainable livelihood for the small coffee growers in collaboration with Dutch Coffee Coalition. As a first step a comprehensive research is undertaken on the coffee crisis in India.

In India coffee industry directly or indirectly provides livelihood to around 0.5 million people. The marginal coffee farmers and their workers are in crisis due to the low returns from the coffee beans they produce. There are several cases of suicides and starvation in Kerala and Karnataka. The goal of this project is to empower small coffee growers and workers to realise fairer terms of trade in the coffee industry and the specific objectives are:

To strengthen small coffee growers’ organisations in India and build their capacity to work together in alliances with other organisations.
To influence the big coffee roasting companies to take responsibility across the coffee supply chain
To introduce mechanisms like various social and environmental standards, to secure the greatest possible price increases for small coffee growers, in line with financially sound processing and marketing of coffee
To protect the rights of the workers (who are mostly women) in the coffee smallholdings through educational programmes and awareness building among the small growers and workers

Present Status :

This two year project has been initiated with preparatory visits being made to the coffee growing regions and a series of discussions have been undertaken with the stakeholders during January to March 2006.