Colombia Proposes International Accord To Ensure Profitability Of Coffee Growers

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- Colombia has proposed an economic sustainability agreement with the global coffee industry to collectively assure the profitability of growers during the recent International Coffee Week in Costa Rica.

Robert Velez, chief executive of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, made the proposal during a meeting attended by representatives from Honduras, Guatemala, Peru and Colombia, as well as coffee industry leaders from North America, Europe and Asia.

"What we seek with this proposal is to achieve an agreement with the entire industry that translates into price levels that make coffee growing a profitable and economically sustainable activity for coffee growers, as it does for the industry," Velez said.

If the measure is adopted, it would reportedly directly benefit more than 22 million people who work in the coffee production process worldwide -- 2.3 million in Central America, 2.2 in South America, 12.1 million in Africa and 5.5 million in Asia.

Colombia will seek additional support for the proposal within the framework of the World Coffee Conference, to be held by the International Coffee Organization in March in Ethiopia. Participants from countries accounting for 94% of global production and more than 75% of world coffee consumption will attend.

"It is our duty to protect the environment and communities as a whole, but if each grower's activity is not profitable, in the future there will be no more coffee communities that care for the environment because coffee growing will disappear," Velez said.

"With current prices, we can hardly expect coffee growing to survive. We seek that the industry recognize that coffee growers make great efforts to achieve quality and sustainability," concluded Velez. "Viability of the entire chain, starting with the farm, is a co-responsibility of all the links."

The FNC is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1927 that represents over 500,000 coffee growing families. Its mission is to improve the wellbeing and the quality of life of Colombian coffee producers.

The extensive renovation of coffee plantations has increased overall productivity and more families are producing specialty coffees, which help protect them from the volatility of international prices and external factors such as the exchange rate. However, a significant number of families are still being affected by the ups and downs of the international price, according to the FNC.