How To Support Womxn Coffee Producers During COVID-19
COVID-19 has affected every corner of the global communities. In the time of writing (April 17, 2020), there are over 2 million confirmed cases and more than 146,000 deaths globally. It has taken a toll on every sector of the global economy and coffee is no exception.
As a response to the challenges that have come about, earlier this month, we launched an e-learning program for womxn coffee producers in Costa Rica as the first phase of our COVID-19 relief effort #Colaboración Virtual. In this phase, we focused on developing training programs to continue providing educational opportunities and knowledge materials to producers virtually. You can read more about it here.
In the second phase, we aim to ensure a market place for coffee producers. Mandatory lockdown across states and minimal movement in cities globally have meant a decline in sales for coffee shops — cafes and roasters and loss of jobs for many coffee professionals. And it has meant canceled contracts for coffee producers in Costa Rica — who rely on the annual coffee sale (contracted in March and April generally), for livelihood.
Canceled sales contracts and lost annual revenue mean increased risks for hunger and the health of the farming families.
The cancellations came at an unfortunate time as producers wrapped up their annual harvest in March and got ready to export the coffee after collectively spending hours and a considerable amount of money preparing and sending sample shipments. These coffees are some of the most delicious that we have tried in recent years in Costa Rica — scoring 82–86.5 on Q-score. They are the fruits of hard work of some of the most inspiring womxn coffee producers out there.
Read on to learn more about them and our work. And consider buying your green coffee from these incredible womxn this year.
Who are we, and what is the Buyer Pledge Program?
Bean Voyage is a non-profit social enterprise that collaborates with womxn coffee producers and leaders in the coffee industry to co-create a sustainable value chain that works for all. We are currently operating in Costa Rica, supporting 67 smallholder womxn coffee producers in 5 regions.
Currently, we are working on several initiatives to financially support the producers in the best way we can. The first program, we would like to introduce is the Buyer Pledge, one of our initiatives to support womxn small-holder producers. With this model, buyers (e.g. importers, roasters) directly negotiate with farmers for the price and quantity of the coffee they would like to buy. We launched this program earlier this year, and are currently recruiting more buyers into the program to support producers who are facing canceled contracts for this year’s harvest.
Why Pledge? The Pledge allows buyers to invest in gender equality in coffee communities in access to training opportunities and visibility of female leadership. By pledging a small percentage (as small as 1% of FOB price) of the coffee purchase towards the Care Fund, buyers will be directly investing in Gender Equality on the ground through the work of Bean Voyage. For example, this funding will support smallholder womxn producers’ access to our holistic educational training, increase visible female leadership in communities/associations, and promote gender equality at home, farms, and communities.
In return, buyers receive marketing content, marketing on all Bean Voyage social platforms, and use of our select media contents for the sponsor’s marketing purposes. We regularly evaluate and monitor our work, and buyers will also receive our Annual Transparency report with their pledge mention.
Why buy from Bean Voyage?
There are many benefits to choosing to partner with us! We are a registered non-profit social enterprise 501(c)3 in the US <American Friends of Bean Voyage> and Asociación sin fines de lucro in Costa Rica committed to holistic sustainability.
We know that sustainability in coffee can’t be achieved without striving to address areas of economics, the environment, social justice, and equality.
Statistically speaking, there is a lot of evidence of why supporting womxn coffee farmers is specifically important. Women own 25% of the world’s coffee farms and form at least half of the workforce in the coffee supply chain. Yet, they earn 39% less than their male counterparts, produce lower quality yields, and are challenged with a lack of finance and gender-based discrimination in accessing training and the market.
Not only do we care about coffee quality, but we have prioritized sustainable production. We provide year-round in-person support to our producers. We have the privilege to form deep relationships with them and learn their stories, and we want to include buyers in these relationships too.
What types of coffee do we offer?
While exact details vary for each harvest, generally we offer a wide variety of coffee! From delish Costa Rican honey processed to anaerobic fermentation micro-lot, and clean washed and natural, we have a bunch that you will absolutely love! We work to be flexible and collaborate with each buyer individually. We can help source coffee that meets your personal needs of quality and process.
How do buyers get the coffee?
We would love to work with you! Please send an email to hello@beanvoyage.com to get connected. Together we can create a plan on how to export the coffee to you, wherever you are in the world! We integrate exportation systems with buyers on a case-by-case basis, to get the coffee to you as seamlessly as possible.
P.S. If you are a roaster in Europe, feel free to check out our Algrano profile.
The article was written by Abigail Miloud and edited by Abhinav Khanal & Sunghee Tark.
Abigail is a third-year Health Sciences and Globalization Studies student from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. She was based in Costa Rica as a McCall MacBain International Fellow, working as a program intern with Bean Voyage and studying at the Universidad de Costa Rica until March 2020.
We are a feminist social enterprise that collaborates with smallholder womxn coffee producers so that they are able to lead their communities towards a sustainable future.
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If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to us at hello@beanvoyage.com
