No capital - no chance

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Black Gold Forums / TAKE ACTION - How can I help? / No capital - no chance

Author	Message
attila_the_gorilla Member	# Posted: 20 Sep 2007 13:00 - Edited by: attila_the_gorilla Reply Business in the rich western world will always try to make the most of every cheap material they can find in third world countries. That`s the only reason why they exist in the first place. There is only one way for third world farmers to benefit more from their work, and that is to get control of the entire distribution chain of their produce. For example in the case of coffee, if a big group of farmers had their own roasting-packaging facilities, or were somehow able to deal with end consumers in western countries, that would be the only way to go. Farmers need to take the initiative and be involved in the distribution process as deep as possible and cut out the big western players. For this, unfortunately third world farmers desperately lack the capital to invest in shipping, roasting, marketing etc. Alternatively, YOU can also help, by changing your coffee drinking habits: You could start buying raw coffee beans and make your own coffee from scratch rather than give your money to Nestle and the like. The less processing the coffee goes through between farmers and end consumers, the more interest farmers can have in the distribution. We just all need to learn how to roast our coffee beans at home and how to make good coffee. Personally I rarely drink coffee, but you get the idea.
For_the_farmers Member	# Posted: 27 Feb 2009 01:52 Reply Attila_the_gorilla said: "There is only one way for third world farmers to benefit more from their work, and that is to get control of the entire distribution chain of their produce. For example in the case of coffee, if a big group of farmers had their own roasting-packaging facilities, or were somehow able to deal with end consumers in western countries, that would be the only way to go. Farmers need to take the initiative and be involved in the distribution process as deep as possible and cut out the big western players. For this, unfortunately third world farmers desperately lack the capital to invest in shipping, roasting, marketing etc." I agree that the creation of in-country, cooperative owned roasting and packaging facilities is an essential step. This will directly increase the standard of living for the farmers, increase the opportunities for jobs, and create taxable revenues for the government. The main question in starting the operation is where to find the capital? The issuance of high risk "fair trade" bonds could be a potential option. A loan from Ethiopia or other governments could be another potential source. How about part ownership (equity contribution) from fair-trade distributors across the world? Does anyone have experience in roasting? What kind of capital expenditure would be necessary to create a small-scale, high quality roasting and distribution center? What kind of intellectual capital would be necessary in order to properly run the machinery and education local workers in this craft?

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