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Small Coffee Farmers Look to Adapt As COVID Related Challenges Persist

By: Alexis Rubinstein, Managing Editor - Coffee Network

Small Coffee Farmers Look to Adapt As COVID Related Challenges Persist
 
Alexis Rubinstein
Managing Editor

CoffeeNetwork (New York) – Small coffee farmers in Indonesia saw sales virtually cease during the COVID lockdown from 2020 to 2021.

On the sidelines of the SCA conference in Boston, coffee farmer, Rani Mayasari, told CoffeeNetwork that she was not able to sell coffee at all due to higher freight prices, tightening restrictions and slowed demand.

Mayasari owns a farm of 60 hectares in West Java and produces around 60 tons of coffee per year. Prior to COVID, her main buyers were from the Middle East, she said, mainly Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“Once COVID hit, no one was buying the coffee, but we still needed to harvest and process the coffee,” Mayasari said. “This was costing us a lot of money so we needed to think of a way to adapt.”

 With most of the coffee shops within the country closed, selling green coffee for domestic consumption wasn’t an option.

Instead, Mayasari taught herself and her 90 women employees how to roast the coffee and came up with a program called Coffee Donation. She called upon donations for revenue and created a product of a disposable coffee cup filled with a single serving of her own Java Halu coffee and a sugar packet. These coffee “packages” were they donated to medical professionals throughout the region who were working on the front lines of the pandemic.

Mayasari was able to create a new business plan, keep revenues coming in and give back to her community.

Her opportunity to attend the SCA convention in Boston also brought the farm’s first buyer from the US.

Other farmers have also had to find way to adapt during the challenging times of COVID.

In Honduras, many farmers thought to turn their attention from exporting their coffee to trying and sell their coffee for local consumption. They knew that during lockdown, the people of Honduras would want access to good coffee, and while the market was smaller, it was still an opportunity to make a profit.

Leonardo Borjas hired motorcyclists with backpacks to deliver his coffee from the roasting facility of his farm to people’s doors, so he was unaffected by logistical challenges. He also integrated a new system that allowed his customers to pay by phone.

Numerous programs were developed to also help struggling coffee farmers through the pandemic. As part of its AAA Sustainable Quality Program, Nespresso created manuals and specific instructions on how to avoid contamination through hygiene measures, avoiding gatherings of people and respecting social distancing were developed to help farmers, especially during harvest period. In Brazil for example, these manuals were turned into dedicated radio spots, broadcast on the most important radios in the coffee regions to ensure the message reaches all rural areas in these critical times.

“We want to bring this information to as many people as possible in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Our priority is to ensure the safety of everyone involved in the coffee chain. Therefore, we are investing in various types of communication.” says Guilherme Amado, Nespresso Green Coffee Manager in Brazil.

Given the variety of situation and therefore needs in these regions, Nespresso has put in place an emergency contingency fund to enable specific interventions such as tests, hygiene kits and food provisions. Nespresso teams have also developed a simple and comprehensive reporting system to follow the evolution of the pandemic in AAA areas, respecting government guidance and farmer privacy. This will help monitor the situation and ensure key actions are focused where they are the most needed.

Alexis Rubinstein

  • Coffee

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