Podcast: How Business Support and Financing Help Coffee Farmers to Realise Certification Benefits.
As part of a transition to a net-zero, nature-positive, socially just economy, our food and agricultural systems have a critical role to play. Sustainable farming systems could reduce emissions, sequester carbon, promote biodiversity in crops and across value-chains, and support the livelihoods of millions of farmers and rural communities.
Yet today, our food and farming systems are far from this ideal. They contribute a third of greenhouse gases and drive deforestation and nature degradation. And farmers and rural communities still do not earn livable incomes. A huge transformation is required along with significant investment in infrastructure, equipment, training and – critically – fair prices for farmers.
Certification has been presented as a solution to drive fairer prices for farmers through premium prices placed on sustainably produced coffee. Farmers that comply with a set of sustainability standards can secure a certification label – and receive an associated price premium for their produce. But certification can only achieve this if coffee buyers have enough capital to buy certified coffee from farmers. With the high cost of accessing loans and other finance in many producer countries, market access players often can only afford a fraction of sustainably produced coffee. Consequently, farmers who invest time and money into securing certification often end up selling their produce without the price premium.
Regeneration’s Rebuild Facility attempts to tackle these demand- and supply-issues to help secure farmer livelihoods, protect landscapes and strengthen sustainable coffee and cocoa companies.
In this podcast, we speak to Rebuild Facility Team Lead Shasi Wagle and Catherine Ng'ang'a, Head of Sustainability at Coffee Management Services (CMS), a local coffee company in Kenya. The Rebuild Facility is a finance facility that provides interest-free working capital to sustainable cocoa and coffee businesses in East and West Africa. Rebuild targets aggregators, off-takers, and buyers of specialty cocoa and coffee to safeguard the incomes of smallholder farmers and promote environmental protection.
CMS received a returnable grant from the Rebuild Facility, which went towards providing income for 6,479 coffee farmers in the Mutira Cooperative and keeping their 1,349 hectares of land under sustainable land management.
This podcast was hosted by Julia Turner (Systemiq) and produced by Nana Agyepong (Palladium) and Barnabe Collin (Systemiq).
Regeneration is a partnership between Systemiq, the system change company, and Palladium, a global positive impact firm.