Amankwaa, 48, is a serious, no-nonsense business woman who rarely cracks a smile, but is patiently answering questions about her farm. She is gracious to visitors because she wants them to know she will not willingly sell her six small farms to an American mining company intent on exploiting the gold under the land in her Ghanaian village, Mehame, which means "don't bother me" in the local Twi dialect.
Amankwaa looks around the cocoa pods and all the trees. "This land was given to me by my grandmother; it had old cocoa trees on it and I cut them down and planted new ones," she says. "Now they are growing very well. This is what I depend on for everything, to keep my children in school and all the money we use for food we eat, the house we built, everything is from the cocoa farms."
"This farm is my life," she says finally, "My life is this farm."
The farmers here are industrious. One stood up in an informal meeting back in town to say "If you grow cocoa and don't make money, then you are not working hard." And the farmers in Mehame do make money: Amankwaa earns about $3,200 per year, which is roughly six times the national average income in Ghana. She and her husband have three children. The oldest is finished with school and growing cocoa himself, and the other two are in high school, a boy and a girl. They have a large concrete house with a proper roof, electricity, and clean water from a well.
Given everything they have achieved in Mehame, some of the farmers are skeptical about the proposal to expand the nearby Ahafo mine into their village, swallowing up their cocoa farms and homes. In exchange they would get compensation for their land and be given new homes somewhere else, but this is not an attractive option to Amankwaa and some others. "We don't want to be resettled somewhere, to be sent to another place, to another person's land," Amankwaa says. "We just want to be at peace with our farms and our children."
The American company looking to expand its mine into the area near Mehame seems to have the support of the government, and there is little opportunity for the local farmers to express their opposition to the mine expansion.
At first there were just rumors, then the villagers heard chainsaws in the forest, and found crews exploring for minerals without their permission. The company, Newmont Mining of Denver, arrived for formal visits with the chief, along with representatives from the Brong-Ahafo regional government, and a member of parliament. "Later on we heard the company found people and pushed them to say they wanted mining here, and used them to prove the community approved," Amankwaa says. She says this compelled opponents of mining to call on Oxfam America's partner WACAM to teach them how to defend their rights.
Working with WACAM, the farmers attended workshops in communities already affected by mining to learn about the potential social and environmental costs like pollution to the many streams that feed their farms. And they are learning to organize themselves, Amankwaa says. "With their advice, we have been able to unite and advocate for our position."
When a group of farmers convene to discuss their concerns about mining, the talk inevitably turns to ways they can defend their farms. Hannah Owusu-Koranteng of WACAM cautions the group against violence: "Protect your property, but don't sacrifice your life," she tells them. "Not all struggles should be violent. You can struggle by jaw-jaw, [talking], use your wisdom and language to win your struggle."
Abdullah Selifa, a 28-year-old employee of WACAM in Brong-Ahafo, says their first task it to ensure farmers like the ones in Mehame understand their rights in Ghana's constitution.
"We are fortunate to live in a democratic country," he says, and goes on to describe the articles in Ghana's constitution that protect the right to private property.
Nevertheless, the farmers are sure to have concerns about confronting powerful forces. "The people here have courage, but they are concerned about intimidation," Selifa says. "So we try to show them that they do not have to be afraid of struggling for their rights in the constitution—and that the government is there to protect their rights."
The community's latest move is to write their political representatives to ask for help. If they get a negative response, Selifa says they will take legal action to protect their farms.
]]>"Several governments championed steps to tackle the crucial issues sitting on the G8 agenda, but in the end this summit did not deliver the breakthroughs that are so urgently needed. The consensus reached was shallow at best, especially on climate," said Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs.
Oxfam is now calling for leadership at key UN meetings on poverty in September and on climate in December.
]]>That's the lesson Tadesse Meskela, an Ethiopian coffee activist, offered to a crowd of Boston University during a stop on his Oxfam-sponsored seven-city tour to raise awareness about the gross inequities in the global coffee trade and to promote "Black Gold," a new documentary about that industry.
In a small but packed auditorium, Meskela walked the students through the maze of market factors that cut coffee farmers out of their fair share of profit for a commodity that's worth, by some accounts, $80 billion a year in retail sales.
Converting Ethiopian currency into dollars, one student quickly calculated the true cost of that imbalance: What farmers sell for pennies a pound, large coffee roasters can command $14.
"That's a little more than 100 times what the farmer gets," said the student.
Getting more of those profits into the pockets of farmers is the main objective of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (OCFCU)—a 90,000-member organization with which Oxfam America has worked for four years. Meskela is the union's manager and the "star" of "Black Gold," which explores the links between the multinational coffee corporations and the poverty that plagues so many of Ethiopia's coffee growers.
Across the country, about 15 million people rely on coffee for income. Fluctuations in its global price leave growers struggling to feed their families and send their children to school—a luxury many simply can't afford.
Membership in the union helps farmers tap into the "fair trade" market which guarantees them a higher price for their beans—sometimes three times what local dealers and exporters offer. Fair trade rules also ensure that some of those higher earnings are set aside to improve the farmers' communities through the construction of schools, health clinics, and clean water supply systems.
Founded in 1999, OCFCU has already facilitated the construction of four new schools, 17 extra classrooms, four health clinics, and three new water supply systems. Every cup of fair trade coffee consumers here in the United States drink will help improve even more the lives of farmers scattered through the cool, green hills of Oromia.
But what surprised Meskela most as he traveled from Boston to Madison—with stops in New York City, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Chicago, and Milwaukee—was how little people really knew about the brew that gets them up and going in the morning.
"What I noticed was 95 percent, and above, do not know where coffee comes from," said Meskela. "They don't know the life of the person behind the cup." It's that farmer—laboring hard in an industry dominated by a market that puts the needs of growers last—that Meskela wants consumers to understand and appreciate.
"We have to create connections with producers—and awaken all Americans," he said.
Meskela has a deep affinity for coffee growers and the hardship that defines their days. From the Oromia region himself, he grew up in a large farming family. But unlike many other farm children, Meskela got to go to school—as did every one of his siblings.
"My father is unique," said Meskela with pride. "He has sent all of his children to school. He was the first person to send a girl to school in the 1950s from our Oromo culture. If all of us had stayed on the farm we would have been poorer and poorer because the land would be shared among 13 of us."
Instead, among his brothers and sisters he now counts two engineers (civil and electric), an accountant, two secretaries, a draftswoman, and a high school principal. Meskela himself graduated from college with a degree in agricultural economics.
While some family members are still on the farm plowing fields of a grain called teff, education has offered his brothers and sisters a range of opportunities that Meskela would like to see others be able to take advantage of, too. Making trade fair is the first step in that direction—and educating consumers about the links between their morning cups of coffee and the growers who produce the beans is critical.
"All of them say 'what shall we do?'" said Meskela, recounting the reactions he heard time and again after people watched "Black Gold" or heard him give a presentation. "The first thing you can do is buy fair trade coffee. And the second is support us in campaigning to get a better price."
]]>He'd left his village for the first time to explain why companies like Starbucks should recognize Ethiopia's ownership of its own coffee brands.
"The names Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, and Harar are as unique to Ethiopia as the flavors of the coffees," he said. "Whoever says these names are not the property of Ethiopia is as crazy as someone who would say the name I gave my first-born son is no longer his."
Robe spoke at this coffee ceremony last December as a kind of local celebrity. His face—the gray beard, the unflinching stare—had become the iconic image of Oxfam America's Starbucks campaign. Launched in October 2006, the campaign asked that the coffee giant sign an agreement acknowledging Ethiopia's right to license and distribute its fine coffees. By recognizing Ethiopia's intellectual property rights, Starbucks could give poor farmers a chance to earn a greater share of the profits.
Aware of Starbucks' status as a global brand interested in maintaining its socially responsible reputation, Oxfam used grassroots activism and strategic media to draw attention to the issue. Though initially reluctant, Starbucks entered into serious talks with Ethiopia in May. By June, they had finalized an agreement that could change the coffee industry forever.
"The true victors of this campaign are the 1.5 million coffee farmers in Ethiopia whose lives will improve," said Abera Tola, director of Oxfam America's regional office in Ethiopia."They have given a glimmer of hope to millions more like them all over the world who deserve recognition for the quality products they generate."
At Oxfam, we feel it's important to stop and recognize a victory. But after all the celebratory emails have been sent, what comes next? For an organization interested in creating lasting solutions to poverty, the end of an effort is in many ways the beginning. This is when the real analysis comes in; just what went into this win?
Oxfam began negotiating with Starbucks in 2005 when we first learned about Ethiopia's efforts to trademark its fine coffees. After dozens of conversations between our Boston headquarters, the Seattle home of Starbucks, and Ethiopia's Intellectual Property Office in Addis Ababa, it became clear that high-level talks would not be enough. It was time to enlist the public.
At a grassroots level, Oxfam worked with a coalition of allies to organize members of the Ethiopian Diaspora, students, Starbucks employees, and our own supporter base. By the campaign's end, more than 100,000 people had gotten involved, many of them sending Robe's photo around the world on postcards, flyers, and posters. Robe's face even appeared on web sites and in newspaper ads during a series of global "days of action" in places like Seattle, Scotland, and Hong Kong. The accompanying message to Starbucks remained simple: Honor your commitments to coffee farmers.
Throughout all this work, Oxfam tested creative ways to engage our supporters. We filmed the days of action and posted the video on YouTube. We sent a petition to Starbucks that became the most popular online action in our organization's history. We had supporters participate in a photo petition on Flickr. And we promoted it all on our social networking pages on MySpace and Facebook.
Eventually Oxfam's message reached Starbucks' shareholders. A few sent letters to Starbucks supporting Ethiopia's trademark initiative. And at the Starbucks annual general meeting in April, some joined members of the Ethiopian community in asking pointed questions of both the company CEO and chairman.
With activists combining efforts around the world, Oxfam ramped up the public pressure by focusing on the press. Over the course of the campaign, major media outlets&mdsah;including NPR, the BBC, CNN, Time, Fortune, and The Wall Street Journal—featured the David-and-Goliath struggle of the Ethiopian farmers and Starbucks.
"What might have remained a little-noticed bureaucratic dispute became an international affair when Oxfam, a nonprofit relief and development group, began publicizing it in the fall," wrote The Wall Street Journal in a March 5 article.
Each aspect of the campaign had its impacts. But it just may have been the voice on the ground that resonated loudest with Starbucks. In the end, the company seemed to accept the simple truth: The campaign wasn't about a development agency, a roaster, or a government. It was about people like Robe, the coffee farmer demanding economic justice.
When the old farmer from Afursa Waro village, whose face had launched the entire campaign, made one final appearance, it was in a thank-you video for Oxfam supporters.
Sitting among his fellow farmers in a lush meadow overlooking the Yirgacheffe hills, Robe looked into the camera once again. "We know that Oxfam and many people around the globe are standing by our side in supporting us in this effort," he said. "You, our supporters, have given voice to our cause."
Then Robe stood alongside his fellow farmers and, in unison, offered a series of customary bows. "Gelatoma. Gelatoma. Gelatoma," they said in Oromifa, their region's language. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."
]]>Find event listings, updates on Fair Trade campaigns, shopping guides, and more from the Fair Trade Federation, Fair Trade Resource Network, TransFair, and United Students for Fair Trade.
Enter TransFair's "Connect with Fair Trade" video contest and win a trip for two to visit Fair Trade farmers in Peru. Create an ad for your favorite Fair Trade product, send a thank you video to farmers, or show how you live a Fair Trade life. Be as creative as you want!
No video camera? No problem. You can tell your Fair Trade story through TransFair's national sweepstakes. You could win a gift certificate for World of Good ethically-sourced gifts. Visit the official web site for entry details, recipes, and games.
The Fair Trade Towns campaign offers tools and resources for local, grassroots groups working to become Fair Trade Towns or Communities.
Fair Trade Towns is modeled after the European movement, recognizing communities in the US that meet five criteria: an active steering committee, an active and visible public campaign, availability of Fair Trade products in local shops, use of Fair Trade products in local organizations, and a city or town resolution supporting Fair Trade.
This Halloween, Global Exchange will transform the lives of children in cocoa-producing countries by bringing Fair Trade chocolate to thousands of households. Trick-or-treaters can help educate the public by joining schoolchildren in the US and Canada participating in "reverse trick-or-treating." Kids will give adults the treats—handing out samples of Fair Trade chocolate with a card educating recipients about poverty and child labor in the mainstream cocoa industry. Along with these young activists, hundreds of volunteers and concerned adults will distribute information door-to-door in their communities and on their campuses. Contact Global Exchange to find out how you can get involved.
All across the country USFT chapters are hosting a wide variety of events. They range from skill- building workshops and interactive sessions with Fair Trade producers to fair trade house parties and benefit concerts. Check out the event list to find all the events going on in your area.
Check out Oxfam America's Fair Trade Resource Center for more background on Fair Trade. You'll also find links to tools, resources and information about Fair Trade products and crafts.
This multi-purpose handbook engages college students in preparation for field internships in Community Agroecology Network's partner communities, as well as providing enrichment activities and follow-up resources. The handbook can also be adapted for use by anyone—from high school students to college professors—interested in teaching and learning about Fair Trade coffee, international trade, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and community development.
Co-op America has just released a full color "Guide to Fair Trade" to help local and national organizers spread the good word about Fair Trade. The guide features descriptions of international and domestic fair trade products with an extensive purchasing directory. It also includes a step-by-step action plan for mobilizing your organization and local producers. The guide is a useful resource to help with your Fair Trade campaign.
The Fair Trade Resource Network is launching its new Web Site during Fair Trade Month. The new site will serve as a hub for discussion and information exchange. It features the most comprehensive online library of fair trade publications, nationwide event listings, and a centralized news page.
The Fair Trade Federation is also re-launching its web site, offering resources to help consumers, vendors, entrepreneurs, and others support Fair Trade organizations.
]]>"Black Gold" will go to DVD, and air on the PBS show Independent Lens, this April. It's also still playing in theaters and at special free community screenings organized by Independent Television Service.
"Black Gold" follows Tadesse Meskela, manager of Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, as he travels the world looking for a better price for his farmers' coffee. Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, an Oxfam America partner organization since 2002, represents more than 100,000 farmers, who despite back-breaking work, watch their profits rise and fall depending on the fluctuating price on the world market.
"There is no coffee which is as quality as this coffee, but we are getting a low price," Meskela says in the film. "Our main aim is to bring more money into the coffee growers' pocket."
Throughout the fall and winter, Oxfam co-sponsored the promotion of "Black Gold" in more than 75 cities and towns across the country. Hundreds of volunteers turned out to support coffee farmers by handing out information at screenings and gathering thousands of signatures for the Big Noise, Oxfam's petition to Make Trade Fair.
With great candor, Meskela uses "Black Gold" as a platform to describe the situation Ethiopian coffee farmers face. When the price of coffee hit a 30-year low in 2001, farmers struggled to feed their children and send them to school. Some quit farming. Others began growing the more profitable chat, a local narcotic banned in the US and Europe. Malnourished and forced to travel long distances to accept foreign aid, some farmers saw no alternative but to bring their families to government feeding centers.
The price of coffee has risen over the last few years, but little has changed in these communities. In Ethiopia, country that depends on coffee for about 40 percent of its export revenue, farmers make as little as three cents for every cup of coffee sold in the United States or Europe. Meanwhile, multinational coffee corporations collectively rake in as much as $80 billion each year, according to the film.
British film makers Nick and Marc Frances use Meskela and the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union tell a larger story about poor countries that struggle to benefit from global trade. The film highlights the many corners of the coffee industry, from the Ethiopian growers who cultivate the best coffee in the world, to the NY traders who set the price, to the Seattle baristas at Starbucks who try to meet the high demand.
By working with producers in Ethiopia and Central America, and by engaging in consumer education, political advocacy, and corporate engagement, Oxfam seeks to create a world where small farmers are fairly rewarded for their hard work.
"Oxfam seeks to correct the imbalances of power at the root of unfair trade. This film highlights the vulnerability of coffee farmers and the disconnect that exists between poor farmers and huge profits," said Seth Petchers, Oxfam America's coffee program manager.
"'Black Gold' illustrates the gravity of the challenges facing coffee farmers—but those challenges are not insurmountable if people get involved. We're hoping people watch the film and get inspired to take action."
]]>Speaker: Ashenafi Argaw
SHAYNA HARRIS: It is a pleasure to be sharing with you the thoughts and wisdom of a fair trade friend who can not be with us tonight. Ashenafi Argaw and I met just a few months ago in the Oromia Coffee Farmers Union office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was in Ethiopia with my colleagues visiting Oxfam's regional office and the partner organizations with whom we work. Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, the organization that Ashenafi works with, is one of Oxfam's partners. Oxfam funds Sidama on various projects that the union identifies as important for its communities, ranging from coffee quality and processing, to clean water projects, to capacity building at the cooperative and union level.
Because Ashenafi can't be here himself, I want to give you a better sense of who he is. Ashenafi is an incredibly dynamic individual. Though our meeting was brief, I was immediately drawn to his spirit. He is a young, energetic, and incredibly committed individual.
Ashenafi graduated from Addis Ababa University and worked for one year with the government's Urban Development Office. After a year learning about how the Ethiopia government works, Ashenafi joined Furra College, determined to make a difference in the lives of Ethiopia's population by working on development issues. He completed a thesis on pricing and the coffee commodity, and through his studies became deeply convinced that generations of Ethiopia's farmers deserve more equity and dignity while pursuing their incredible work.
With what Ashenafi calls a "pressing conviction" he joined Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union and has been serving in different capacities. Currently, he is leading the export division.
With passion and commitment, Ashenafi is working to give a voice to Ethiopia's farmers, who have been silenced for too long.
ASHENAFI ARGAW: Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for this opportunity to share a message with you from Ethiopia's poor and unheard farmers.
The word "crisis" can not sufficiently describe what has happened in Africa. The human tragedy there is so serious, it sometimes defies description. According to the World Bank, the majority of African countries (about 36) have a per capita annual income less than $675. On a yearly basis, Ethiopians typically earn $110 each.
In the face of this bleak poverty, political crisis, and instability, I am happy to see that there are people who are willing and committed to help. Your presence here proves that you want to empower the downtrodden.
The marriage between fair trade and farmers has helped lessen the poverty for my people. Fair trade has saved the lives of poor farmers. And participating in fair trade requires that both buyers and growers are disciplined, honest, and fair.
One of the "Seven Sins" as Gandhi puts it was: "Commerce without morality." In this way, a fair price is a moral price. It should, however, be clear that paying this price is only part of the overall package that will transform humanity.
I believe we are all in the same boat. The circumstances might vary. But in the end, what touches one part of humanity sooner or later affects the rest.
It has been many decades since farmers started to grow coffee in our area. Coffee was originally discovered in Ethiopia in a place called Kaffe. Soon coffee was growing throughout East, West, and South, becoming a necessary source of income for many Ethiopian farmers. Coffee makes up more than 50 percent of Ethiopia's total exports, generating vital income for its population of 73 million, more than half of whom live on less than a dollar a day. But then the price slump began in 1998, and the crisis affected the country in general and the coffee producers in particular.
Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union was designed to find an alternative ways to get coffee farmers a market for their crops and a fair price that would allow them to maintain their farms and provide basic necessities for their families. Searching for new alternatives in the coffee market, the union empowered cooperatives by creating more direct relationships between the producer and the trader.
Fair trade guarantees a minimum of $1.26 per pound (a living wage) and access to credit at fair prices. These fair payments are invested in food, shelter, healthcare, education, environmental stewardship, and economic independence. Fair trade promotes socially and environmentally sustainable techniques and long-term relationships between producers, traders, and consumer.
But coffee isn't just about farmers. Coffee starts at the hands of producer and ends at the hands of consumer. As a representative of producers, I am close to the crop, where the story starts and as consumer you are close to the cup where the story ends. You get your coffee from supermarkets and I get my coffee from the farm. But the path from crop to cup, and from farm to supermarket is long, and there are many actors involved. Most of these actors are acting unfairly and affecting the lives of many poor and silenced farmers. Today, I kindly request you advocate for fair trade by preaching fair trade, and consuming fair trade.
Although I was unable to make it to your conference, I hope the message I have shared with you whets your activist appetite. I know we face a long winding path and it is mostly uphill. The tasks before us are among the hardest to perform. But I strongly believe that fairness, truth, and justice will shine through and help us win our battle. What it takes is a full commitment from us to the poor, downtrodden, and unheard farmers. Only then can we espouse the noblest ideals of humanity.
Thank you and God bless you!
SHAYNA HARRIS: Ashenafi represents the true spirit of a committed individual who is working on behalf of his country to bring true social and economic transformation to the lives of the over 80,000 farmers Sidama supports.
He is living proof that we all play an important role in the work for a more just world, regardless of where we were born, our social position, and the resources afforded to us. Like most of us here, Ashenafi was not born in a coffee growing community.
However he is an inspiration to us all, as he has found a way to use his education and privilege to form strong partnerships with the millions of coffee farmers of Ethiopia, and help bring their story to you.
To learn more about the Sidama coffee grower's cooperative you can visit Oxfam's website, at www.oxfamamerica.org. Ashenafi reminds us that we all play a role in transforming our world, in promoting a vision and enabling the notion that together, we can end poverty.
]]>The handbook also serves as a resource for high school students who are interested in learning more about Fair Trade coffee and sustainable farming. It provides an in-depth look at the social, economic, and environmental background of the coffee crisis, and describes the links between conservation and economic development. Professors can use the handbook as a learning curriculum for academic courses since it contains a comprehensive list of resources for further reading.
Oxfam America helped CAN develop this resource as part of our broader work with student-led Fair Trade organizations, such as the United Students for Fair Trade.
"Students have played an important role in raising the awareness and sales of Fair Trade coffee on college campuses across the country," said Elisa Arond, Oxfam?'s Coffee and Fair Trade Outreach Assistant. "The 'Field Study Handbook' is a great resource because it deepens students' understanding of the issues as well as their connections to coffee-growing communities."
Download a free, electronic copy of the "Field Study Handbook" and learn more about the internship program.
]]>The ICA serves as the operating charter of the ICO, the only forum that brings the majority of coffee producing and consuming countries together to address critical issues facing the coffee sector. When Oxfam launched its coffee campaign in 2002 with the Mugged: Poverty in Your Coffee Cup report, the ICO was identified as an important venue for Oxfam's message to Make Trade Fair.
The new ICA reflects Oxfam's advocacy work and puts many important issues on the ICO's agenda for the coming years. Most importantly, Oxfam's advocacy agenda came directly from a collaborative process with 12 other organizations—mostly small-scale farmer organizations—and was reflected in the paper Grounds for Change which launched Oxfam's efforts at the ICO in May, 2006.
The following points, included in the new version of the ICA, are victories for small-scale farmers and work across the world:
While the new ICA adds important elements to the ICO's mandate, the Agreement itself expresses intention. The true value of the new Agreement will be as good as the implementation, which means that while Oxfam welcomes this development it will continue to push ICO member countries to follow through on the promises made to small farmers and farmworkers. In particular, Oxfam continues to call on ICO members to create forums for small-scale farmer organizations to have direct channels to voice the challenges they face as farmers struggle to earn a decent living from their coffee crop.
At a meeting in Belo Horizonte, Brazil last week, Oxfam's coffee sector allies from several countries—including coffee cooperatives and think tanks—cautiously welcomed the new elements of the ICA. With high level attendees from the Brazilian government coffee companies in attendance, they noted the importance of continuing to work in their countries to ensure a seat at the table alongside big business interests, as well as the need to ensure fair prices for family farmers and commitment to International Labor Organization's labor standards for farm workers. With the ICA completed, the hard work of implementing reforms must now begin.
In response to the developments at the ICO, Oxfam's partners and allies committed to push for representation in their national dialogue on coffee and their delegations to the ICO in order to build on the gains we have worked with them to achieve.
The text of the ICA is available now in English. It will be made available in Spanish, Portuguese, and French on the ICO website in the near future.
]]>Today he is an independent cotton producer and the President of FONPA, the National Cotton Producers Forum, which has organized small cotton farmers to become an equal partner with government and industry in improving the lives of small scale cotton farmers of Mozambique.
"The formation of a national forum is important because for the first time cotton farmers are represented at a national level and taken seriously by government and the cotton companies. We are now able to put pressure on government, raise the concerns of the small cotton farmers, and begin to address the imbalance of power relations between the concessions and the cotton growers," said Malico. "By joining together in associations we have found it easier to negotiate a better price for our cotton and to help each other by working together to improve our production and harvesting."
On a warm winter July afternoon in his home area of Naicole, in the largest cotton producing province of Nampula, Mr. Malico is meeting with local farmers to discuss the latest harvest and their concerns and needs. Two representatives of Oxfam America's partner, ABIODES (the Organic Agriculture, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development Association) which steered the formation of FONPA, are attending to discuss a local pilot project introduced during the last season.
The pilot project provided seed, spraying equipment, training, and draft animals for plowing to 50 members of three local farmers associations. The aim was to increase the area of production and productivity, boost cotton quality and yield per hectare, and introduce sustainable agriculture.
ABIODES Field Coordinator, Isabel Mazive says the project has had a significant impact, "Fifty smallholder farmers were selected by their associations to cultivate one hectare (2.45 acres) for each producer, with a total area of 50 hectares. We estimate that the average yield per hectare will be 900 to 1200 kilos, in contrast to previous average yields of 300 to 600 kilos per hectare. Other farmers not directly participating in the initiative have also been able to hire the animal traction services at a reasonable cost determined by the associations. This income has been used to support the growth of the local associations."
Isora Jamal is one of the cotton farmers to have benefited from the pilot project. Standing in the family field surrounded by head-high cotton plants she is satisfied with this year's crop. "The animal traction has been a big help in preparing the land in time for planting and allowed me increase my area of cultivation. The training and services have definitely improved the amount and quality of my cotton. It also saved us women a lot of time and manual labor in the fields, which means we have been able to spend more time on the other food crops. The animals have also assisted with transportation and water collection," says Jamal.
The success of the project has also attracted the attention of the National Cotton Institute which now intends to extend the use of animal traction nationally. The Director of the Institute, Norberto Mahalambe, notes that the organization of the small-scale cotton farmers is vital for growth and stability in the industry. "Cotton has been one of the most stable cash crops in Mozambique for the last 100 years," he said. "There are over 350,000 cotton farmers supporting some 1.5 million dependents on this crop. Income from cotton pays school fees, medical bills and many other essential expenses."
Most of the small-scale cotton farmers in Mozambique are tied to contracts with the privatized cotton concession companies. Under this arrangement the companies provide seed in return for the cotton crop. However, the farmers complain that the inputs and services are of poor quality and many farmers end up owing the companies more than they receive in payment for their crops. This cycle of debt deepens every year. In response, FONPA is lobbying government for an agrarian policy that protects and improves the lives of cotton producers. They also want agriculture banks to finance cotton production and processing in order to improve the quality of cotton and the small farmers' income.
Oxfam America helped establish FONPA in 2005. Mahalambe, the director of the National Cotton Institute, said that Oxfam's support for FONPA "has been fundamental in assisting farmers to get organized into a national forum, able to negotiate with companies and the government. The farmers no longer stand alone and they are much more informed and capable."
Davie Malungisa, Oxfam America's trade and livelihoods expert said that FONPA is helping the farmers gain more power in determining how cotton is produced in Mozambique, but that they are looking to other activities as well. "In the coming months FONPA will focus on offering services such as access to finance, improved inputs, value addition and crop diversification," he said. The overall goal of this work: "To increased the income and food security of small cotton farmers."
]]>Oxfam responded by saying that Starbucks did prompt the National Coffee Association (NCA), of which it is a leading member, to file an opposition to the applications, which is the reason the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) gave for rejecting them. At a meeting held this past July at the Ethiopian Embassy, Embassy staff and advisers met with the NCA president to discuss a letter of protest filed against Ethiopia’s trademark applications. Ethiopian Embassy staff asked the NCA President what had prompted the NCA to file the opposition after more than year of silence on the issue. The NCA President responded that Starbucks had just brought it to the NCA's attention.
It is therefore disingenuous for Starbucks to claim they were not responsible for the application being blocked. Ethiopian Embassy staff and Ron Layton of Light Years IP, a Washington DC-based intellectual property rights organization that is helping to advise the Ethiopian government, have gone on record with this.
Starbucks has also claimed that its investment in social development projects and micro-finance initiatives in coffee growing regions has been recognized for its leadership within the industry.
While Starbucks has taken some positive initial strides in this area, Oxfam thinks the company can do better. As a company that prides itself in such efforts, it is unclear why Starbucks would oppose Ethiopia’s efforts to help its farmers realize a greater portion of the value their coffee commands on the international market.
Intellectual property ownership makes up a huge proportion of the total value of world trade but rich countries and businesses capture most of this. Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, and one of the poorest countries in the world, is trying to assert its rights and capture more value from its product. It should be helped, not hindered.
Oxfam continues to call on Starbucks to show leadership for other coffee companies by immediately recognizing Ethiopia's rights in this case and signing the licensing agreement that Ethiopia presented to the company in September, recognizing the country’s rightful ownership of its coffee names.
]]>The companies – Novartis, Merck and Pfizer – are resisting moves by India, Thailand and the Philippines respectively to use safeguards that are written into World Trade Organization (WTO) intellectual property rules in order to protect public health. Each company is trying to impose its patent monopoly on a big-selling medicine to stop the countries from exercising their rights to trade in cheaper generic equivalents.
"The industry is fighting hard because developing country markets, especially in Asia, are vital for its future growth and these medicines under dispute are so valuable," said Celine Charveriat, head of Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign. "These disputes put monopolies and profits over public health, which is exactly what world leaders promised would never be allowed to happen under WTO intellectual property rules."
Pharmaceutical sales across the world's four biggest emerging markets, including India, grew by 22.3% in 2005 compared to single digit growth in the US, Europe and Japan. Of the medicines in dispute, Novartis' anti-blood-cancer drug Glivec is worth $2.1 billion in annual sales and its patent begins to expire in 2013. Pfizer's hypertension drug Norvasc is worth $4.7 billion in annual sales and it wants to extend its patent that has already begun to expire in some countries.
In a statement prepared for Oxfam, Constant Gardner author John le Carre said yesterday:
"Here is what I wrote five years ago in the Afterword to The Constant Gardener: 'As my journey through the pharmaceutical jungle progressed, I came to realize that, by comparison with the reality, my story was as tame as a holiday postcard.' The reality today is worse. By imposing one-to-one deals on individual governments, Big Pharma is dishonoring hard-won international agreements designed to allow lifesaving generic drugs to be produced and marketed in countries where there is urgent and demonstrable need. The present posture of Novartis in India is a classic example of Big Pharma's unbeautiful priorities. With unlimited legal resources Novartis is challenging India's sovereign right under international law to supply cheap, non-patented drugs in situations where the public health is at risk. If the case succeeds, Novartis will have protected the health of its account books at the expense of those who will die because they can't afford the drugs that could save them. "
"Since India is the main supplier of inexpensive medicines to the developing world, a victory for Novartis will also curtail access to affordable medicines in Africa and Asia," Charveriat said. "These three disputes show that the intellectual property system cannot work to protect public health if companies can continue to undermine developing countries from using legitimate health safeguards. In two cases, we have a legal battleground where poor people are losing out to vested interests."
Some companies, including Merck and Novartis, say they can discount prices or donate medicines to poor patients instead. Oxfam says that this is not the long-term solution to sustainable access to affordable medicines and does not cover all patients who need them.
"Donations can help poor people in specific situations, such as disease eradication programs,' said Charveriat. "However, discount programs keep all decisions about who can get medicines and for how long in the hands of the companies. A sustainable and proven way to get affordable medicines to people is by generic competition."
"The Philippines, Thailand and India have taken important steps to use public health safeguards to reduce the price of medicines and respond to serious public health problems. They should not be bullied when rightfully applying these rules," Charveriat said. "We applaud their efforts. They should remain strong against this corporate pressure and the companies should drop their lawsuits and their objections."
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According to Oxfam, the agreement includes strict new intellectual property rules that would extend corporate monopoly rights and dangerously hinder Colombians' access to important life-saving drugs. Colombia’s health insurance system today falls short of providing adequate access to medicines, with 20 million Colombians unable to afford the medicines they need. If this FTA is implemented, Colombia's health care system would be forced to spend an additional $900 million a year to cover the increased cost of medicines by year 2020, leaving it unable to meet existing coverage, much less expand it.
"Agreements between trading partners should offer economic opportunity and development, not the demise of a poor country's public health system," said Stephanie Burgos, trade policy advisor for Oxfam. “Unfortunately, this agreement locks in unfair trade rules that pull the rug from underneath Colombia’s poor.”
The agreement will also expose Colombia’s farmers to unfair dumping of agricultural products, forcing them to compete with subsidized exports from the United States. This could spell economic disaster for the millions of people in Colombia who depend on agriculture for their livelihood, according to the organization.
"This free trade deal will pry open Colombia's market without consideration of the damaging effects of dumped, cheap, subsidized American products,” said Burgos. “Poor farmers need viable alternatives to growing coca, but US dumping of rice and corn could undermine their livelihoods and leave them with no other option.”
The FTA will have to be approved by Congress in both the US and Colombia, but opposition has been mounting, including in the US Congress. Congresswoman Linda Sánchez (D-CA) is traveling to Colombia next week to meet with civil society organizations and Colombian legislators to discuss the possible negative consequences of the trade deal.
"The Colombia FTA is a bad deal for American and Colombian working families," said Congresswoman Sánchez, "This deal will gut Colombia's farming industry and continue this Administration's practice of exporting American manufacturing jobs."
Oxfam called on the US Congress to reject the Colombia FTA and others like it, and focus its energies on extending current trade preference legislation instead. This includes the Andean Trade Preferences Act, which provides duty-free access to the US market for specific products from designated developing countries such as Colombia. Current programs are set to expire at the end of the year but Congress will consider renewing those preferences after it returns on December 4th.
"The US Congress should put a stop to free trade agreements like the one with Colombia because they threaten development priorities in poor countries," said Burgos. "The US Congress should instead encourage developing countries to utilize trade as a means of achieving sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction by extending and strengthening existing trade preference programs.”
]]>The declaration states that developing countries must be able to use public health safeguards written into the World Trade Organization's (WTO) intellectual property rules (called TRIPS) in order to access cheaper generic versions of patented medicines. Generic competition is the most sustainable way to keep the price of medicines down, according to Oxfam.
"Rich countries have broken the spirit of the Doha Declaration," said Celine Charveriat, head of Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign. "The declaration said the right things but needed political action to work. That hasn't happened. We've gone backwards. People are still suffering or dying needlessly."
Since 2001 things have become worse for sick people in developing countries:
According to the World Health Organization, 74 percent of AIDS medicines are still under monopoly, 77 percent of Africans still have no access to AIDS treatment, and 30 percent of the world's population still does not have regular access to essential medicines.
At the same time, rich countries, especially the US, are bullying developing countries to impose stricter intellectual property rules in order to preserve pharmaceutical monopolies. This is restricting generic competition and keeping prices high.
"Global health statistics are grim but the US continues to negotiate trade deals with stricter rules that limit how a country can use public health safeguards," said Charveriat. If implemented, these deals will result in Colombia having to pay an additional $940 million per year by 2020 to cover the increased cost of medicines, affecting nearly 6 million patients. Similarly in Peru, the price of medicines could increase by 100 percent in 10 years and 162 percent in 18 years.
Other rich countries, particularly those among the European Union, have quietly consented to US actions. Pharmaceutical companies have gone even further by directly challenging countries such as India and in Philippines that have sought to use the safeguards.
In 2005, cancer patient groups in India used Indian intellectual property law to stop a patent application by the Swiss company Novartis for its anti-cancer drug, Glivec. This allowed Indian companies to continue making generic versions at $2,700 per patient a year, as opposed to Novartis having a monopoly priced version for sale at $27,000 per patient a year.
However Novartis recently appealed the court's decision in a direct challenge to India's right to interpret the TRIPS Agreement to protect public health. If Novartis is successful, it could jeopardize India's generic export industry. India is the world's leading exporter of generic medicines, with 67 percent of its exports going to developing countries.
"Novartis has told Oxfam that there is no commercial market for Glivec in India and that it is challenging India in order to align Indian intellectual property law with TRIPS," Charveriat says. "However, India is only trying to use the flexibilities rightfully available to it under TRIPS and Novartis is seeking to block that right."
Meanwhile in the Philippines, the government has conducted tests and issued regulatory approval for a cheaper patented version of Norvasc, a heart disease drug now under patent to the US company Pfizer. The government is doing this to ensure that a cheaper patented version of Norvasc that costs almost 90% less will be available immediately from when the patent expires in June 2007.
Oxfam believes that the government's action is consistent with the TRIPS Agreement and with the Philippines intellectual property law. However, Pfizer is now suing the government. If Pfizer is successful, it will severely limit the government's ability to access cheaper medicines and assert its right to enforce TRIPS safeguards.
"Developing countries have a responsibility to use the public health safeguards but when they try to do so they are put under huge pressure," Charveriat said.
In order to make the Doha Declaration work, Oxfam is calling for:
"Rich countries must live up to their commitments and stop undermining the Doha Declaration with their selfish actions," Charveriat said. "Now more than ever we need a global trading system that puts health before profit and makes medicines affordable for all."
]]>The bill would extend for one year an expiring provision of the African Growth & Opportunity Act that enables apparel manufacturers in least-developed countries in Africa to use fabric from any country. This would encourage apparel companies to continue sourcing from sub-Saharan Africa, which is vital to preserving the jobs of thousands of workers, mainly women, who lack other economic alternatives. However, after October 1, 2008, apparel manufacturers would be required to switch to a stricter rule that requires at least 50 percent African-content (such as fabric and labor), gradually increasing to 60-percent by 2015. While Africa’s existing cut and sew operations could make up a certain percentage of the value-added requirement, the bulk would need to come from the new production of fabric in Africa.
“This temporary extension is critical today to ensure that the jobs upon which thousands of women depend for their livelihoods do not disappear tomorrow,” said Oxfam America President Raymond C. Offenheiser. “But we are concerned that this proposal could set the bar too high in too short of a time period for the struggling African apparel sector. Building up a viable textile and apparel industry takes many years and huge amounts of capital.”
The bill would also provide tax incentives to companies that invest in sub-Saharan Africa in sectors other than extractive industries and include Haiti into the grouping of developing countries that receive apparel benefits.
“Tax incentives to encourage companies to invest in sub-Saharan Africa are a welcome addition to the US’ development strategy for Africa.” said Offenheiser. “Extending duty-free benefits for Haitian apparel is a positive step, but we should simplify the rules to encourage sourcing from the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.”
The bill also proposes a two year extension of the Generalized System of Preferences, which provides duty-free benefits for many products to over 100 countries. However, new restrictions would exclude certain sectors in India and Brazil from duty-free treatment.
“The continuation of duty-free programs like GSP provides the vital opportunity for developing countries to use trade as a way of achieving sustained economic growth and poverty reduction.” said Offenheiser. “But the exclusion of some developing countries from the GSP program is troubling, given the millions of poor people who are employed in sectors that directly benefit from duty-free benefits.”
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