The coffee is a blend of beans from the Sopacdi cooperative in DRC and the Mzuzu cooperative in Malawi, creating a unique Fairtrade coffee blend that is being launched at Sainsbury's this week. This product will reach stores in time for Fairtrade Fortnight (28 February to 13 March) and Red Nose Day (Friday 18 March) with at least 30p per pack donated to Comic Relief.
In DRC, the project marks the start of a revival of the coffee industry in the Lake Kivu region, where most of the more than 4,000 tonnes of Arabica coffee produced annually is currently smuggled out of the country due to lack of formal market opportunities. It is estimated that around 1,000 people die every year as they attempt to transport their coffee illegally across Lake Kivu into Rwanda in search of higher prices.
The Mzuzu cooperative faced different challenges. The established agricultural system was vulnerable to changing climatic conditions and overly dependent on expensive inorganic fertilizers. To secure the quality and increase the yields of this coffee in the long term, Mzuzu farmers are developing more sustainable production systems.
The smallholder farmers in both regions are able to grow coffee at altitudes and on soils ideally suited to the production of speciality coffees, however they struggle to access markets for a variety of reasons, including achieving consistent high quality, lack of certifications or lack of consumer association of the DRC or Malawi with high quality coffees.
Liz Jarman, Sainsbury's head of Fairtrade, said: "This is a unique coffee with a fantastic back story. By buying it, customers will not only get a great coffee, they can also feel satisfied that they doing their bit to help lift two of the world's poorest countries out of poverty.
"The coffee will make a very real difference to farmers in these countries, and should help prevent many farmers dying in an effort to find more lucrative markets for their coffee."
The Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell said: "Trading with a large UK retailer will make a big difference to the livelihoods of farmers in Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a step towards the two countries being widely recognized as coffee growing nations.
"Trade drives growth, which in turn creates jobs and wealth in communities. Through trade we can help people to pull themselves out of poverty. Ensuring farmers and other producers get a fair price for their produce and effort is central to this. Trade will soon become a central theme across our aid programme, particularly in Africa, helping developing countries including those emerging from conflict tackle the obstacles that prevent them from making the most of trading opportunities."
The project is a joint partnership between Sainsbury's, Comic Relief, Twin Trading, Finlays and the two African smallholder cooperatives. The organisations have worked together to develop the coffee, which has been part funded by DfID's Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund (FRICH), which aims to find innovative ways to bring more food from Africa to UK consumers.
Liz added: "By bringing two new coffees from the DRC and Malawi to our customers, we will really shine a light on Africa's potential. Although this is a limited edition blend we are launching for Red Nose Day 2011, our ultimate goal is to work with both cooperatives over the coming months to make quality Congolese and Malawian single origin coffees a permanent fixture."
Sainsbury's has worked with Finlays, its supply partner, to roast and package the coffee. Twin Trading, a project partner with expertise in developing smallholder commodity supply chains, has worked with both cooperatives to develop the supply chain and build local capability in agronomy, management and coffee exporting.
"With Sopacdi we have started from a very low base - pulling in farmers with a hectare or half a hectare each; financing agronomists to help them rehabilitate the coffee farms, putting processing infrastructure in place and working with farmers to meet quality control standards," says Richard Hide, a senior coffee manager at Twin who is overseeing the project. "There's a huge appetite and commitment to get production off the ground again."
Ian Barney, Twin's Managing Director, said: "We are delighted about the launch of this coffee and the profile it gives smallholder producers in both regions. We have been working closely with producers in both countries and know how much pride they take in their coffee. This is an important milestone for the farmers and communities of Sopacdi and Mzuzu and will put quality coffee from both regions on the map".
Sainsbury's is the world's largest retailer of Fairtrade products, having converted all of its bananas to Fairtrade in 2007. Since then, it has converted a number of additional ranges to Fairtrade, including its roast and ground coffee, in an effort to ensure that growers in the developing world are paid a fair price for their goods.
Source: Sainsbury's
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