Coffee
Letter: Growing Coffee
IPN Opinion article
Letter to the editor examining fundamental causes of the "global coffee crisis"
Who\'s Really to Blame for Low Coffee Prices?
IPN Opinion article
Behind closed doors in late May, representatives of the World Bank, Oxfam, Greenpeace and the International Coffee Organization met to plot the future of 25 million poor farmers. These groups are ballyhooing the fact that world-wide coffee prices have fallen to a 30-year low.
The culprit? According to these groups, it is profiteering by multinational companies, who purchase 50% of the world\'s coffee, and overproduction of poorer-quality coffee by Vietnam.
Letter to the editor: \'Squeezed to the last drop\'
IPN Opinion article
Unpublished Letter to the Editor of the Washington Post, regarding coffee markets and agriculture 29 November, 2002
\'Fair\' trade is about empowerment
IPN Opinion article
Sir, In your editorial \"Bitter coffee\" (September 19) you suggest that Oxfam\'s pressure on companies will help poor coffee farmers. However, Oxfam\'s definition of \"fair\" trade is to impose quality standards set by the International Coffee Organisation which, by increasing costs for multinationals, will help small coffee producers but disadvantage poor farmers, consumers and companies alike.
Will the destruction of coffee stocks save Kenyan farmers?
IPN Opinion article
The decline in coffee earnings has contributed to low productivity in what was once Kenya's 'black gold'. Coffee berry diseases, leaf rust, leached soils, high input and marketing costs has made Kenyan farmers to invest less in this sector. Political interference has virtually rendered the producers of this vital commodity helpless.
Kenya is known for its fine quality coffees, the majority being the Mild Arabica with 60% produced by small holders and 40% by estates. Kenyan farmers are grappling daily with the imbalance that makes it difficult to afford the finished product of what they produce and earn a fair income. The news of a flooded coffee market spells doom to local farmers. Will the destruction of 5 million bags in stock stimulate the market for this product?
Oxfam is full of beans
IPN Opinion article
To round out the stereotype, Oxfam\'s campaign is calling for governments to spend up to $100 million to destroy \"surplus\" coffee and prop up prices, and wants the International Coffee Organization to force multinationals to abide by \"fair trade\" coffee standards. Yep, Oxfam wants taxpayers to cough up in order to pay more to drink coffee...
Far from the intended consequences, government intervention and \"fair trade\" standards would only worsen the problem for coffee farmers, however. Though it is trendy to blame multinationals for every ill, the real problems that poor farmers face are caused by a lack of infrastructure, distorted EU and U.S. agricultural markets and unheeded economic signals. [For WSJ subscribers http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1033601496319159033.djm,00.html]
