Cost of coffee.indd - RISC

Coffee retailers (supermarkets and coffee bars)
1 Demand of suppliers that the coffee they sell pays producers a decent price.
2 Promote Fair Trade coffee brands and products.
3 Insist that coffee products are labelled on the basis of their quality.
4 Starbucks to make public the findings of the commercial viability of its sourcing guidelines.
governments and institutions
International Coffee Organisation
1 Organise, with the UN and the participation of the World Bank, a high-level conference
on the coffee crisis by February/March 2003, headed by Kofi Annan, specifying that
participation is conditional on being willing and able to make concrete commitments.
2 Work with producer countries, Fair Trade organisations, and roaster companies to define a
decent income for producers.
3 Implement the quality scheme, preceded by an impact assessment on small farmers.
WorId Bank
1 Identify World Bank support for producer countries to manage the short-term impact of
coffee-price collapse, including rural development considerations in the Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper (PRSP) exercise. The World Bank and IMF should develop a long-term
integrated strategy to tackle the problem of commodities.
2 Continue to review the HIPC process in light of the expected shortfall in export revenues
resulting from the fall in commodity prices, and ensure that any country which suffers from
a significant decline in commodity prices between Decision and Completion Point under
HIPC automatically receives additional debt relief at Completion Point to ensure that it
meets the IS0 per cent debt-to-export target.
3 Contribute to a major international conference on coffee organised by the United Nations
(UNCTAD) and the ICO by February/March 2003.
UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
1 Develop a long-term integrated strategy to tackle the problem of commodities.
2 Organise a major international conference on coffee with the ICO by February/March 2003.
Producer governments
1 Co-operate with each other to stop more commodities from entering the market than can be
sold.
2 Put the issue of diversification at the centre of poverty- reduction strategies.
3 Provide support to farmers who have to leave the coffee market, including attention to
women left on family farms.
4 Address the immediate needs of rural farmers for extension services including:
• technical and marketing information
• credit schemes and debt management services
These extension services should pay particular attention to the needs of women farmers.
5 Institute sanctions against anti-competitive trading practices that hurt small farmers.
6 Assess the impact of the ICO Quality Scheme on small producers, especially women
farmers.
7 Protect the rights of seasonal and plantation workers to ensure that labour legislation,
consistent with core ILO conventions, is enacted and implemented. Particular attention
should be paid to the rights of women labourers.
8 Promote small-producer associations and enterprises to strengthen poor farmers in national
coffee markets.
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