What's That in Your Coffee? Misery in Your Cup!
18 September 2002
Washington, DC, September 18, 2002 – Oxfam announced today the worldwide launch of What’s That In Your Coffee?, an international campaign to draw attention to the global crisis destroying the livelihoods of 25 million coffee farmers in more than 50 countries.
Over the past five years, the price of coffee has fallen almost 70 percent from a high in 1997, to a 30-year low, in many cases, forcing coffee farming families out of business. Small coffee farmers in developing countries sell their beans for less than they cost to produce. Meanwhile, the largest coffee corporations continue to reap enormous profits.
In a report released today titled Mugged: Poverty in Your Coffee Cup, Oxfam calls for the major players in the coffee industry to support a Coffee Rescue Plan to overcome the current crisis and create a more stable market. The report analyzes the origins and effects of collapsed coffee prices and urges American consumers to join Oxfam in bringing relief to farmers and a change to the system.
“There’s a bitter aftertaste in America’s cup of coffee. It’s the daily poverty and misery faced by millions of desperate coffee farmers and their families,” said Liam Brody, Coffee Program Coordinator at Oxfam America. “This worldwide humanitarian crisis requires an immediate and powerful response from governments, corporations, and consumers. “
Around the world, thousands of families have been forced off their land while working men are abandoning their homes to seek work elsewhere. In Central America, nearly 600,000 temporary and permanent jobs have disappeared. Children from Nicaragua to Uganda are showing severe signs of malnutrition. While millions of farmers suffer, the world’s biggest coffee roasters (Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Sara Lee and Nestlé) are reaping double-digit profit margins. Some companies are investing modest funds in projects to help coffee farmers in select countries, but their contributions are minimal compared to the scope of the crisis.
Oxfam’s focus on the coffee crisis is part of its overall Make Trade Fair campaign, launched last April. The trade campaign focuses on widespread inequities in the rules of world trade, bringing pressure to bear on governments, corporations, and international institutions to change the rules of trade that benefit the wealthy and deepen poverty.
“Americans can help end the coffee crisis by insisting on Fair Trade coffee wherever they buy or drink coffee,” Brody continued. “Fair Trade coffee is available in stores and restaurants all over the country. They can also join Oxfam’s efforts to get coffee roasters to support the Coffee Rescue Plan.”
As part of the campaign, Oxfam America will mobilize student organizers on over 100 campuses nationwide to convince their colleges and universities to purchase and serve Fair Trade Coffee. Activities are also planned in two-dozen other international cities including Mexico City, Brussels, London, San Salvador and Addis Ababa.
The campaign launches today in the U.S. at the Capitol in Washington, DC. where speakers include celebrity and activist Bianca Jagger, the Honorable Congressman Sam Farr (D-CA), Oxfam President Raymond C. Offenheiser and Benjamin Cholotio, coffee farmer and member of a Fair Trade coffee cooperative in Guatemala. A public service announcement (PSA) co-produced with TransFair USA and featuring Martin Sheen also launches across the country. Throughout the day around the world, Oxfam affiliates will be launching the same campaign and urging governments and corporations to take immediate steps to alleviate the crisis.
As part of the Coffee Rescue Plan, Oxfam urges major coffee roasting companies to pay farmers a decent price (above their costs of production), purchase beans that meet International Coffee Organization (ICO) quality standards, and increase the amount of coffee they buy under Fair Trade conditions. Fair Trade certification ensures that small coffee farmers are paid a basic price that in a time of crisis keeps farming families from starving.
Oxfam’s Coffee Rescue Plan aims to bring supply back in line with demand and to support rural economic development. Oxfam calls on the major players to take the following actions during the next year:
Coffee roasters: The four major coffee roaster companies--Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Sara Lee and Nestlé – should commit to paying a decent price to farmers. They should commit significant resources to tackle the coffee crisis, label coffee products on the basis of their quality, buy at least 2 percent Fair Trade coffee in the next year and increase that amount in years to follow, and respect the rights of migrant and seasonal workers.
Governments and Institutions: Governments in producer countries should cooperate to reduce supply, increase quality, and help farmers switch to alternative crops. Governments in coffee consuming countries should provide political and financial support to tackle oversupply, including monitoring quality, removing tariffs, and destroying lowest-quality coffee stocks. Institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund should develop a long-term integrated strategy to tackle the problems of commodities, provide additional debt relief, and support a major international coffee conference next spring.
Consumers: Consumers should urge their governments to back the Coffee Rescue Plan, and should insist on Fair Trade Certified coffee wherever they buy or drink coffee.
For more information, to join the campaign, or to learn where to find Fair Trade Coffee, visit Oxfam America's Fair Trade website or call 1-800-77-OXFAM. To learn more about the worldwide campaign, visit www.maketradefair.com.
Oxfam America provides financial, technical, and networking assistance to grassroots groups to support their self-help community development initiatives. Oxfam also advocates among national and international policy-makers, suggesting humane public policies that address structural impediments to ending poverty and hunger. In addition, Oxfam educates Americans about the causes and solutions to world hunger and poverty. A major component of our educational and policy work is campaigning throughout the U.S. to get Americans actively behind the important policy issues that we believe will make significant differences to poor communities.
