Zambian farmer pouring red cherries
One of the more frightening issues raised at the recent ICO World Coffee Conference in Guatemala was the whole question of where we are going to get our future supplies of coffee from.
Demand continues to grow virtually unchecked, rising by around 2% per annum, reflecting world population growth and rising real disposable incomes, especially in emerging markets. However, at origin we see real problems, as pressure from population growth and urbanisation takes its toll, with coffee lands taken out of production to provide real estate for urban sprawl and greater food production for growing populations. You might say that the market will eventually redress the balance, as prices will rise to ensure the correct allocation of resources to the production of various commodities. That is true, but the transition might well be very painful—for all of us involved in the coffee business.
Do you realise that one of the biggest problems facing the industry at origin is its failure to attract young people into growing coffee? In Uganda, for example the average age of a coffee grower is 58—and getting older by the day. Young people are just not interested in subsistence farming, and they certainly have no time for what they see as an industry stuck in a time warp. There is an urgent need to commercialise coffee growing at every level, and to introduce greater technology in an effort to make coffee growing attractive to young, well-educated professionals.
And this is where I think we can play a major role. Coffee has become the beverage of choice for many of the young, well-educated professionals in the developed world. As an Association, we need to transfer that enthusiasm and passion for great coffee to origins, and assist with the development of internal markets, so that potential coffee growers don’t see coffee as something their fathers were involved with, but as a modern, dynamic industry, centred on excellence, in which they have a future.
Maybe I’m just too optimistic but, for me, this is a matter of enlightened self-interest. If we want great coffees in the future, then we have to invest in all parts of the industry today—and nowhere is this investment needed more than at origin. To an extent, we are already doing this, as more and more origins get involved in our championships, and a lot of the initiatives and programmes such as Cup of Excellence focus on the production of great coffees. I must also take my hat off to the many World Barista Champions who have travelled to origin to transfer their skills and knowledge to the fledging baristas in those countries. But can we and should we not be doing more?
Mick
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