Source:
The National,Tuesday 15th of January, 2013
THREE highlands-based coffee cooperatives are seeing more benefits from their ties with an international coffee association. More than 1,000 farmers under the Apo, Angra and Kange AAK) Coffee
Cooperative Societies based in Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, Jiwaka and
Western Highlands are getting good prices and will soon venture into a
housing project with the purchase of two sawmills to process their
timber. The cooperatives recently forged an alliance with the Switzerland-based
4C Association with assistance from Nestle and VolCafé, the parent
company of PNG Coffee Exports. The 4C Association is the platform that brings together stakeholders in the coffee sector to address sustainability issues. To date, 250 members worldwide have joined the 4C platform. Cooperative coordinator Brian Kuglame said overseas partners also aim
to introduce more social and economic schemes like central wet coffee
mills and help farmers in marketing and transport. “We see that the social and economic plans of our international partners
are viable to assist our farmers’ needs and it is a good opportunity
that they would not let go,” he said. Kuglame said the cooperatives were a role model for other farmer-based
coffee cooperatives to link up with the Coffee Industry Corporation
(CIC) and other coffee companies and organizations to access available
services and opportunities. He said all credit for the success of the AAK Cooperatives should go to
CIC for successfully implementing their eight point plan introduced in
2002 on grower-owned marketing. “CIC grower-owned marketing policy is a practical programme to empower
and benefit disadvantaged farmers … AAK Cooperatives has made it a
reality to showcase that mobilizing growers to productivity is the way
forward,” Kuglame said. Through the eight point plan, the CIC is promoting such grower-owned
group marketing to achieve higher coffee quality, volume, income and
other related incentives, including addressing labor issues.
