MUGGED: POVERTY IN YOUR COFFEE CUP

Millions of people in 45 coffee-growing countries are facing economic ruin ­ and many going hungry ­ due to collapsing world prices.

Oxfam’s latest report shows the global market is oversupplied by 540m kilograms of coffee each year. Coffee farmers are getting, on average, 24 cents a pound while consumers in rich countries are paying roughly $3.60 a pound ­ a mark-up of 1500%.

You can access this report from the Oxfam website

WHAT'S IN YOUR COFFEE?

Oxfam are calling for the four major coffee companies ­ Kraft, Sara Lee, Proctor & Gamble, and Nestlé ­ to make sure that poor farmers receive a decent price.

The campaign is also targeting Western governments and global trade leaders, who have stubbornly resisted global calls for fairer international trade rules.

For the campaign to succeed, your help is needed. You have real power ­ as a voter and as a consumer ­ to bring about change.

To find out more, log on to www.maketradefair.com and take action online. Or call Oxfam on 01865 312610 to find out how you can get involved. You can also buy Fair Trade coffee and other Fair Trade products ­ look out for the new Fair Trade mark.

GETTING CO-OPERATIVE

Guatemala has just gone through a 36-year-long civil war, during which 200,000 people were massacred and a million became homeless.

“80% of people in Guatemala are living in poverty and nearly a third can’t read or write,” explains Oxfam's Angelique Orr.

Coffee is a major export for Guatemala, with one in four of the population dependent on coffee. But 60 families owning 80 per cent of the land.

“Whole families are housed in huge barns where they don’t have any privacy. They are expected to work very long hours and the children don’t have access to school,” says Ms Orr.

Their working conditions have always been poor, but now the international coffee crisis has hit the country hard. In 2001, plantation owners were receiving about £6.50 for 100lbs of coffee. This year, that dropped to £1.80, which meant a cut in wages for coffee pickers from £1.80 a day to less than 50p.

Oxfam has started working with partner organisations such as ECAO, which supports small-scale farmers in the production of organic products by helping them set up co-operatives.

Ms Orr visited one such co-op in the Solala region, which was set up in 1990 and now includes 64 farmers from 4 villages. The co-op not only grows and picks the coffee, but also processes it so that members can profit directly from its sale.

One worker, Don Pablo, says the co-op has really helped.

“I was treated very unfairly in the past because I was paid so little by the landowners,” he said. “It feels much better now because I’m working for the good of my family.”

Children, too, have benefited. Since the co-op was set up, the four villages that belong to it have built a school with their profits.

It’s a drop in the ocean when you consider how many people in Guatemala depend on coffee. But it clearly illustrates that empowering workers benefits the whole community.

And it’s a salutary reminder that it really does matter where your next cup of coffee comes from. By buying Fair Trade you can be sure that your coffee is providing farmers like Don Pablo with a decent income not a poverty wage.