By Intan Isna LarasatiXII IPA 2

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We start with a brief history of Coffee, and we look why it is important to know where your coffee comes from.

We then look at the extraction and production processes, which includes where coffee is grown, the two types of coffee, and the environmental impacts of this processes.

Next, we explain the negative impacts on workers, which include the health effects of pesticides, the worker’s poor living conditions, the additional strains on women, children, and seasonal laborers, and the difficulties of unionization.

Later, we examine the health impacts on the communities surrounding the coffee plantations and we touch on the consumers’ health impacts.

Finally, we discuss the types of waste that comes from coffee, and what happens to it.

Origin◦ Coffee’s origin can be traced to the 12th century

in Ethiopia, where it is believed to have been first harvested (Waridel 32). “Traders brought coffee to the Middle East, from where it began to spread outward in the 15th century, penetrating every corner of Europe over the next two hundred years”(32). Moreover, coffee became a very important means of European trade as it spread to the Dutch’s, French’s, and British’s colonies during the 18th and 19th century(32). At this time, people from Africa and natives of the colonies were enslaved to work in the coffee plantations (32). “During the period of decolonization, coffee was put forward as a miracle crop that would allow developing countries to achieve economic growth.”(32)

Institutionalization of CoffeeBeginning the 1970s, institutions began promoting

technified coffee, which replaced the traditional shade grown coffee. USAID was the principal player in Central America and in

1978, promoted a program called PROMECAFE, a Spanish acronym for “Coffee Improvement Project” (Rice 26) “At its initiation PROMECAFE promoted the intensification of coffee along the lines established by the USAID and its consultants. In the 1980s, technification was defined and rationalized:

i8o9oooo“ ‘Technification’ refers to the combination of measures, including scientific pruning, shading, application of fertilizers,

insecticides and fungicides, planting high-yielding rust resistant varieties as soon as they become available, and increasing the number of yields per manzana [1 manzana =0.69 hectare], so that average yields will increase from 7-10 quintales [1 quintal = 100 pounds] ‘dry bean’ to 30-35 per manzana.

◦ “Between 1978 and 1997, USAID established and implemented at least eight projects that either were aimed specifically at or converged logically with the coffee-technification process in Central America and the Caribbean. Over the course of some nineteen years, USAID funneled nearly $81 million into these projects, aiming to affect more than 300,000 hectares of coffee land and half a million producers in the region” (Rice 9).

◦ In Mexico, INMECAFE was another institution that promoted changes in coffee production. “Over the past three decades Mexico has seen a 73 percent expansion in the area devoted to coffee, from 356,000 hectares in 1970 to …the current 615,000 hectares. (Rice 9)

Why is it important to know where your coffee comes from?

People think that the $2 they pay for their cappuccino at Starbucks is the real price of coffee, but in reality there are other costs in the coffee that impose negative social and environmental impacts, which are not included in the price.

“Coffee is the second largest US import after oil, and the US consumes one-fifth of all the world’s coffee, making it the largest consumer in the world” (FAQ par.1)

“North Americans consume more than 4 kg (9 lb.) of the black drink per capita per year, which averages out to about two cups per day for every man, woman, and child” (Waridel 31).

When consumers continue to purchase coffee without regard to the external effects, the current conditions that coffee farmers are going through will continue to persist. The disastrous environmental and social effects will continue to wreck and ravage the earth and the people.

Where is coffee grown?Coffee is cultivated mainly in Latin America, Asia,

and Africa. Some of the main producer-countries are Brazil, Columbia, Indonesia, Mexico, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, Uganda, and others (Waridel 51).

We think is important not to focus on one particular country to tell the story about coffee because all of these countries have one thing in common. That is the intensification and institutionalization of coffee as a monocrop, and the pressures put on these countries to be part of the global economic market that promotes free trade agreements such as The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

◦ Unfortunately, the globalization of trade and the pressure to get greater yields to be part of the global market have forced these coffee-countries to emphasized their agricultural economies on cash crops such as coffee.

◦ Therefore, they had to abandon their traditional cultivation methods to use the technological methods necessary for higher yields. As a result their economies became dependant on the coffee trade.

If you buy ungrounded coffee at the supermarket, you probably know that you are buying seeds. These were once enclosed in the coffee fruit, “a drupe (a fleshy fruit surrounding a hard seed, like a cherry). Each ‘cherry’ usually contains two seeds, or coffee ‘beans,’ although occasionally only one seed develops.” (Dicum 39)

Coffee is cultivated by either small producers in “small farms with less that five hectares of coffee trees,” or by large landowners. (Waridel 42)

“Cultivation begins with carefully choosing beans from highly productive plants. The beans are planted and raised in nurseries for their first year, after which they are transplanted outdoors to the plantation.

Technification kicks in at the planting stage.

Technified-Sun-Grown Coffee

◦ It is also called shadeless or near-shadeless technified coffee because large amounts of an overstory of valuable non-coffee trees that provides shade in traditional coffee farms are clear-cut to plant the seedlings.

◦ It is extracted by means of intense monocropping, chemicals (fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides), and plantation workers.

◦ It consists of rows that are spaced farther apart than traditional-shade-coffee with higher density of coffee plants. “Coffee plant density increases up to ten fold." (Rice, sec. 2)

◦ Once the seedlings are planted, “it needs to be carefully maintained to protect against diseases and pests.” (Dicum 45)

◦ The next step in this stage is also mechanized. The pulp of the coffee cherries have to be removed, and “fine skin which covers each bean must be removed with expensive machinery.” (Waridel 50)

◦ The pulp is thrown out to the river as waste.

www.originscoffee.com/faq.html

◦ In the final process before exportation, “the fine skin which covers the bean must be removed with expensive machinery. The beans are then graded according to their shape, colour, and density. Sophisticated machinery is [also] used in this process.” (Waridel 50)

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Technified coffee production causes a large number of species’ extinction.◦ Technified coffee farms have fewer bird species

than traditional shade coffee--ninety percent fewer species. (Rice and Roberts ch.4) Sun-grown coffee is a threat for birds because as more

shade-grown coffee is converted to sun-grown coffee, more birds will loose their habitat.

Other essential diverse species that sun-grown coffee lacks are beetles, ants, wasps, and spiders. Moreover, bats, which are important seed dispersers and pollinators of many tree species, can not be found in technified coffee farms (ch. 4) B

When we lose the species by taking away their habitat, we are not only exterminating the biodiversity of the planet, but we are also weakening Earth’s natural resource base which supports all species including humans.

◦ Technified coffee has worse soil quality than traditional coffee. The reduction of tree cover, natural predators, and

organic materials leads to higher rates of nutrient-leaching, and higher erosion. “When you cut down a forest [shade coffee], rain flows over the top of the soil, causing erosion and saltation that winds up in the river.” (Wexler, par 16)

◦ The large amounts of chemicals used in technified coffee contaminate our environment and they do not obey national or international boundaries. Damages include: Contamination of waterways and water tables

(aquifers) Damage to soil microorganisms. Eutrophication (overgrowth of algae in river, [which

depletes the oxygen in the water.]) Creates air pollution. Creates pesticide-resistant weeds and insects. Contributes to the destruction of the ozone layer.

(Waridel 49)

A report on pesticides in Kenya, “Pesticide use and Management in Kenya” by the World Wide Fund for Nature◦ found that “[s]ignificant amounts of pesticides are used

on coffee estates, and sprayers are regularly exposed” (Partow par.2).

◦ The report showed that men predominantly do the spraying. “However, coffee harvesting activities are almost exclusively the domain of female laborers and their children, and the picking period overlaps with pesticide application periods” Therefore, they are frequently exposed when they are required to in recently sprayed areas (Partow par.3).

◦ “Workers sprayed from six to eleven hours a day” (Partow par.3)

◦ “There are no lunch breaks or other rest pauses…[and the] monthly wage was roughly US$11-14, placing pesticide farmworkers in the lowest income group in Kenya” Partow par.3)

There was no soap, drinking water or field sanitation facilities available for the workers during the spraying operations (Partow, par.4).

The only water available was in drums that were intended for mixing pesticide concentrate and therefore most of the workers just waited until they got home to wash (Partow, par.4).

“Workers mixed chemical concentrates using bare hands and stirred with a tree branch or stick” (Partow, par.5).

“Pesticide solutions were poured without use of funnels, making spillage and splashes unavoidable” (Partow, par.5).

“Applicators sprayed both with and against the wind as spray tractors were driven up and down the rows in succession to save time and fuel” (Partow, par.5).

Protective gear was provided for only some of the workers.59% of workers observed had overalls or aprons.36% had boots.53% were bare foot.11% wore open toe slippers.

Endosulfan is also used in technified coffee.◦ Endosulfan has been linked to “high rates of

cancer, cerebral palsy and other serious disorders” (Thanal Conservation Action).

◦ It is “classified as an organochlorine”, which is the “same family as DDT and dieldrin” (Thanal Conservation Action).

◦ It stays persistent in the environment, with a half-life of nine months to six years (Thanal Conservation Action).

◦ There is strong evidence that endosulfan is an endocrine disrupting chemical (Thanal Conservation Action).

www.grida.no/aco/imf2f3.htm/

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The price farmers receive for their coffee is devastating to their livelihood.◦ When taking inflation into account, “it is just now 25 per

cent of its level in 1960, meaning that the money that farmers make from coffee can only buy one-quarter of what it could 40 years ago” (Gresser and Tickell 9).

◦ Production costs are not even covered. “In Viet Nam…in Dak Lak province…at the beginning of 2002,

the price farmers were receiving covered as little as 60 per cent of their production costs” (Gresser and Tickell 9).

The following graph illustrates that “individual farmers did not capture the full ‘producer’s profit’ as indicated here, since much was absorbed by intermediaries and inefficient marketing chains” (Gresser and Tickell 17).

◦ Mohammed Ali Indris is an Ethiopian coffee farmers from the Kafa province. He is 36 years old and his household consists of 12 people, including the children of his deceased brother. He estimated that about five years ago, he could have

made $320 for the year with the combined sale of coffee and corn. This year he will only make $60 for his coffee and his family has already eaten the corn (Gresser and Tickell 10). “ ‘Five to seven years ago, I was producing seven sacks of

red cherry [unprocessed coffee] and this was enough to buy clothes, medicines, services and to solve so many problems. But now even if I sell four times as much, it is impossible to cover all my expenses. I had to sell my oxen to repay the loan I previously took out to buy fertilizers and improved seed for my corn, or face prison”

◦ Worsening health care Earlier, Mohammed talked about medical expenses, this

is a problem for many coffee farmers and their country’s ability to deal with other health concerns like HIV/AIDS (Gresser and Tickell 11).

“In Ethiopia, where coffee is the major export and 700,000 households depend on it for their livelihoods and millions more for part of their income, the fall in coffee export earning poses serious challenges to the country’s ability to deal with the HIV/AIDS crisis”(Gresser and Tickell 11).

It is estimated that over three million Ethiopians are infected with HIV/AIDS and “The Ministry of Health has projected that treatment for HIV/AIDS alone will account for over 30 per cent of the total health expenditure by 2014” (Gresser and Tickell 11).

◦ National Economy Problems “The drying up of coffee cash in the local economy is

one of the main reasons behind the collapse of several banks” (Gresser and Tickell 12).

“In Central America, the crisis has been said to be having the ‘impact of another [hurricane] Mitch’ in terms of income losses: these countries have seen revenue from coffee exports fall 44 per cent in one year alone, from $1.7 bn in 1999/2000 to $938m in 2000/01. Forecasts for 2001/02 are grim: a further fall of 25 per cent” (Gresser and Tickell 12).

In one year, Ethiopia’s coffee export fell 42 percent from $275m to $149m (Gresser and Tickell 12).

◦ Child Labor Children are forced to work in

the coffee plantations because fathers are forced to leave and also just do to the fact that families need additional hands to make ends meet. “Because of this situation,

many coffee workers bring their children to help them in the fields in order to pick the daily quota. These child laborers are not officially employed and therefore not subject to labor protections. While children in most rural families work at an earlier age than urban children, a February 4 investigative report by ABC-affiliate KGO television in San Francisco revealed children as young as 6 or 8 years old at work in the fields.” (FAQ par 7).www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/

teachers/

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For the regular consumer:“An average cup of java contains about 80 to 150

milligrams of caffeine.” (Dicum 116)“Too much coffee brings on ‘caffeinism,’ a

condition characterized by anxiety, irritability, nervousness, lightheadedness, and even diarrhea.” (118)

“Scientific research on the physiological and psychological impacts of moderate coffee drinking has turned up very little evidence implicating the drink in serious harmful effects.” (119)

Regardless of lack of scientific proof, remember that is not to the multinational’s advantage to fund more substantial studies. It is, however, your responsibility to make sure that better studies are performed.

Distribution of Coffee Continuation

Source: (Waridel,43)

Gresser, Charis and Sophia Tickell. “ Mugged: Poverty in Your Cup.” Gresser, Charis and Sophia Tickell. “ Mugged: Poverty in Your Cup.” Oxfam InternationalOxfam International 2002:9 2002:9

What kind of waste is derived from the production and consumption of coffee?

“A major source of river pollution is from the discharges of coffee processing plants. The process of separating the coffee bean from the coffee cherries produces “enormous volumes of waste material in the form of pulp, residual water and parchment.” (Rice and Roberts ch.4)

“El Instituto Centroamericano de Investigacion y Technologia Industrial in Guatemala estimated that over six month period in 1988, “the processing of 547,000 tons of coffee in Central America generated 1.1 million tons of pulp and polluted 110,000 cubic meters of water per day, resulting in discharges to the region’s waterways equivalent to raw sewage dumping from a city of four million people.” (Rice and Roberts ch.4)

◦ This illustrates what the pulp looks like before is thrown out to the river.

We can find many alternatives to support the communities in these countries if we only look for them. The simplest one of them is buying “Fair Trade Coffee,” which among other things, promotes fair prices for farmers and technical assistance to grow non-pesticide-produced coffee.

The choice is yours now that you know more about what is really involved in your cup of coffee, so what type of coffee will you buy?

Rice, Robert and Justin Ward. Coffee, Conservation, and Commerce in the Western Hemisphere How Individuals and Institutions Can Promote Ecologically Sound Farming and Forest Management in Northern Latin America. 1996 Smithsonian Bird Center and National Resource Defense Council. 20 Feb. 2003 <http://www.nrdc.org/health/farming/ccc/cptinx.asp>