Around 500 billion cups of coffee are consumed around the world in a typical year, an equivalent of 2.25 billion cups per day. The global coffee market was worth $83 billion USD in 2017 and was projected to rise steadily. Despite coffee’s popularity in modern life, few coffee drinkers realize the human cost to their caffeine fix. From inhumane working conditions to child labor and human trafficking, labor exploitation in coffee production is a bitter reality unbeknownst to consumers.
Global Trouble
The majority of coffee consumption happens in industrialized nations, with the United States, Germany and France as the largest importers. Conversely, more than 90% of coffee exports come from developing countries such as Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Mexico. Evidence suggests the presence of child labor and/or labor exploitation in coffee production in all of the above countries, in addition to many others like Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic and Uganda, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Labor.
From beans to brewing, coffee production is a multipart process that involves many intermediary stages before the final products reach retail stores. This laborious process means that it is extremely difficult for coffee retailers to track the origins of their coffee and ensure ethical labor practices at the source. It also means that only a small fraction – often 7% to 10%, but sometimes as low as 1% to 3% – of the retail price reaches the hands of coffee farmers. Fluctuations in coffee prices often result in farmers not earning a living wage, which jeopardizes the survival and health of their families.
Farmers’ Reality
Growing coffee requires intensive manual work such as picking, sorting, pruning, weeding, spraying, fertilizing and transporting products. Plantation workers often toil under intense heat for up to 10 hours a day, and many face debt bondage and serious health risks due to exposure to dangerous agrochemicals. In Guatemala, coffee pickers often receive a daily quota of 45 kilograms just to earn the minimum wage: $3 a day. To meet this minimum demand, parents often pull their children out of school to work with them. This pattern of behavior jeopardizes children’s health and education in underdeveloped rural areas, where they already experience significant barriers and setbacks.
Forced labor is widely reported in coffee-growing regions in Guatemala and Côte d’Ivoire. Workers suffer physical violence as well as threats of loss of work, wages, or food if they fail to perform at a certain – often unreasonable – standard. Many work without a contract, timely payment, protective gear, or appropriate medical care. Migrants are especially vulnerable since many cannot afford to return home and have to rely on plantation work to survive.
Child Labor and Exploitation
About 20% of children in coffee-growing countries fall victim to labor exploitation in coffee cultivation. Facing demanding quotas, workers often bring their children to help in the field in order to earn a living wage. The U.S. Department of Labor reports an estimated 34,131 children laborers growing coffee in Vietnam, 12,526 of which are under the age of 15. The same report finds almost 5,000 children under 14 working on coffee plantations in Brazil, often without a contract or protective equipment. In Côte d’Ivoire, children are subject to human trafficking and forced labor. Children are forcibly transported to coffee plantations from nearby countries including Benin, Mali, Togo and Burkina Faso and recruited to work for little or no pay, often for three or four years until they could return home. Threats of violence and withheld payments prevent them from leaving the farms, and many suffer from denial of food and sick leave.
Many South American countries have launched extensive and effective social programs and policies to address child labor and labor exploitation in coffee farms. In 2018, Colombia made significant advancements in efforts to tackle child labor through its campaign Working is Not a Child’s Task, the National Policy on Childhood and Adolescence, and the Center for the Crime of Trafficking in Persons. The Brazilian government funded and participated in programs that target child labor, such as the #StopChildLabor (#ChegaDeTrabalhoInfantil) Campaign and the Living Together and Strengthening Links Program (Serviço de Convivência e Fortalecimento de Vínculo).
The Fair Trade Movement
In the past decade, labor exploitation in coffee cultivation has garnered attention worldwide. As a result, many socially aware businesses have committed to a fair trade approach that promotes better profits for farmers and more sustainability in farming practices. Among other objectives, the fair trade movement works to give farmers a higher price for their coffee under conditions that strictly prohibit the use of exploitative practices. Ethically certified coffee brands such as Equal Exchange and Cafedirect have risen in popularity as consumers become more aware of labor exploitation issues. Certification schemes such as Fairtrade International, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ Certified bring value to socially conscious businesses and encourage trading practices that empower smallholder farmers.
– Alice Nguyen
Photo: Flickr
Hunger in Grenada
A Turbulent Past
After President Ronald Reagan ordered the 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada, invading forces murdered Grenada’s leader along with 208 residents of the islands. Although those involved in the invasion were punished, the country’s difficult history continues. Grenada was one of the countries hit hardest by hurricanes Ivan (2004) and Emily (2005). Nearly 95% of all Grenada’s buildings were affected, which decimated the country’s annual GDP, thus putting Grenadians in a vulnerable situation. The impact of the hurricanes forced the government to shift its attention to rebuilding the country rather than tending to widespread hunger in Grenada.
By 2008, Grenada’s average growth rate had reached impressive levels considering the destruction it had endured. The country even began to see the emergence of a middle class. Despite these movements in the right direction, Grenada was one of the countries most likely to go into massive debt in 2012, mainly due to loan disputes with Thailand concerning the tourism industry.
Sustainable Development Goals
One of the most effective ways to evaluate hunger in Grenada is through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Of the 17 goals, Grenada is only struggling with two. Although it is important to recognize the progress Grenada has made toward the 15 other goals, Grenada has made little progress toward completely eliminating hunger. The second goal, “Zero Hunger,” is in the worst shape out of all 17 goals currently. Without adequate funding or direction to help this goal, much of the country will continue to live in hunger.
Grenada’s struggles with goal 15, “Life on Land,” also contribute to its hunger problems. This goal deals with the degradation of habitats and biodiversity, which leads to an increased level of widespread hunger. Such intense degradation impacts the hunger situation because the destruction of habitats destroys fertile farmland as well. This inhibits Grenadians’ access to adequate food sources.
Combating the Issue
One promising United Nations initiative, the “Zero Hunger Challenge Initiative,” works toward the second Sustainable Development Goal. The Ministry of Agriculture, Land, Forestry, Fisheries and Environment began this initiative in 2013. By 2015, the Food and Agriculture Organization had given $11,308,00 to significantly diminish hunger in Grenada. The Zero Hunger Challenge Initiative worked to improve economic diversification across the workforce, implement school feeding programs and collaborate with neighboring islands to accomplish a mutually beneficial outcome. Although this program helped hunger in Grenada, it ended in 2019, and the U.N. has collected almost no data since the end of the program to determine how successful it was. Hunger in Grenada therefore likely remains a problem.
– Natalie Tarbox
Photo: Flickr
Artificial Pollinators to Fight World Hunger
More than 570 million farms exist in the world today. Notably, 45% of the world’s population lives in rural areas; a number that is equivalent to 3.4 billion people. However, today, 2 billion people sustain themselves through agriculture. While the entirety of human-kind depends on agriculture for sustenance, only 33% of the population depends on agriculture to survive, economically. In this same vein, farmers’ livelihoods have been threatened by Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a leading cause in the decline of bees. With a decrease in natural pollinators, researchers are creating artificial pollinators to sustain our ecosystem.
The Birds & Bees Falling Short
Birds, bees and other insects are the world’s crop pollinators and cross-pollinators. Bees can pollinate more than $15 billion of crops every year in the U.S. alone. In 2016, however, seven species of Hawaiian bees were declared endangered, as well as a bee that is native to the East Coast and Midwest of the U.S. Researchers are now looking to artificial pollinators and robotics as a substitute to help fulfill the world’s agricultural needs.
Robotic Dragonflies and Miniature Drones
In the Netherlands, a group at the Technical University of Delft is creating drones — robotic dragonflies — that will recognize, land on, and pollinate flowers. Assistant professor Guido de Croon said that they “use robot dragonflies which mimic insects flying by flapping their wings… this will be beneficial once miniaturization of these drones has taken place. They’ll be able to fly longer without recharging.” The drones can also communicate with each other to avoid contact and possible damage to themselves. In the future, these robotic dragonflies will work in greenhouses to aid in plant health, i.e., watering and safe pesticide use.
Soap Bubble Pollination
An associate professor at the Japan Institute of Science and Technology, Eijiro Miyako, has used soap bubbles carried by drones to pollinate a pear orchard. Inspired by blowing bubbles with his son, Miyako notes that “soap bubbles have innovative potentiality and unique properties, such as effective and convenient delivery of pollen grains to targeted flowers and high flexibility to avoid damaging them.” Miyako’s team used GPS-controlled drones to direct soap bubbles, carrying pollen grain, at fake lilies from two meters away and had a 90% success rate.
This is by far a cheaper source for pollination and according to Miyako, more efficient than other artificial pollinators. Instead of using human labor, Miyako hopes to continue to advance this eccentric, bubble pollinator. Previously, Miyako used a two-centimeter long drone to pollinate but found that the flowers were getting harmed in the process. This pollinating technique is “flower-friendly” in Miyako’s experience, far safer for the fruit or flower.
More Innovative Technologies
Other researchers have created robot bees and dragonflies and one group has created a backpack to attach to real dragonflies to assist in the pollination process. In any case, these insects are crucial to our ecosystem. While technology should never fully replace the natural process — it is useful to have these innovations to assist. Those who live in rural areas depend on the ecosystem and environment around them — including crops and agriculture. Although these technologies remain unperfected, solutions like these artificial pollinators are working to protect livelihoods.
– Hannah Kaufman
Photo: Pikist
AmazonSmile: An Online Charitable Donation Platform
How it Works
Signing up for AmazonSmile is a highly intuitive process for customers. It is available on any web browser under the URL: smile.amazon.com and it can even be activated from the Amazon shopping application. One of the program’s main features is that customers can choose the specific nonprofit to which they want to donate. Moreover, the online, charitable donation platform offers more than 1 million charitable organizations to choose from.
The charities included in the program must pass an approval process to guarantee that the customers’ donations only fund reputable organizations. Organizations hold valid registry and remain in solid standing with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) (also known as a registered nonprofit). Only then are charitable organizations eligible to register on AmazonSmile. Additionally, foundations must be public and located in either the U.S. or Washington D.C.
Yet, after all of this information, an important question remains — why are some Amazon customers hesitant to use this program when shopping?
The Problems with AmazonSmile
Enabling AmazonSmile seems like a simple way to help others. However, the program has already received some criticism. Since the donation is only 0.5% of a customer’s eligible purchase order, a customer would have to spend $5,000 on Amazon to donate just $25 to the organization of their choice. When taking a closer look at consumer spending, it is clear that this purchase-to-donation ratio is not necessarily skewed in favor of Amazon’s online charitable donation platform (and thus, the charities). For example, in 2018 Amazon Prime members only spent an average of $1,400 on purchase orders. Moreover, the purchase order value (on average) for consumers who were not Amazon Prime members was even less, at $600.
In 2015, the AmazonSmile Foundation donated just less than $13 million to charitable organizations. Although this figure undoubtedly represents a substantial amount of money, the fact remains that the company’s contribution was still less than 0.5% of Amazon’s total retail sales for that same year. The program donated about 0.00012% of Amazon’s total retail sales in 2015. Given Amazon’s extreme level of success, many people criticize the program for its minuscule donations (in proportion to the company’s total retail sales).
A Silver Lining
Regardless of its flaws, the AmazonSmile Foundation holds the potential to provide a simple way to substantially give back to charitable organizations. For those who want to make small contributions, often — transitioning to AmazonSmile is an effective way to accomplish philanthropic, retail goals while making a positive impact in the fight against world poverty.
– Danielle Wallman
Photo: Google Images
Increased Research & Disease Treatment in Bangladesh
The country of Bangladesh sits in the Northeastern region of the Indian subcontinent. Also, it is one of the most densely populated nations in the world. This high population of more than 166.2 million has been hard hit by disease. For example, the primary causes of death in Bangladesh include respiratory diseases, such as tuberculosis. To combat the threat posed to its citizens, the government installed many hospitals and rural health centers to treat tuberculosis and other fatal yet common diseases. Moreover, cholera and malaria also fall into this category of fatal, common diseases plaguing Bangladesh. These centers came about to improve disease treatment in Bangladesh, especially in the more rural regions. Unfortunately, it is these rural regions where such services would normally be scarce.
Problems and Progress
The Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), located in Dhaka, have both worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This joint effort aims to conduct public health research. The organizations seek to gather more information to categorize and treat a multitude of diseases, such as encephalitis, rotavirus, polio, and viral hepatitis. The main hope of these programs is to learn more about the transmission of the pathogens in question and their ability to spread between hosts of different geographic areas.
Also, the CDC assists government staff on effective and efficient techniques to investigate the conditions and cases of a disease outbreak. Moreover, the CDC also provides guidance and instruction on how to respond to public health threats. Policymakers have referenced medical studies to help them make better-informed decisions about introducing vaccines and other interventions. All of this, to improve disease treatment in Bangladesh.
The Impact of COVID-19
Currently, it is these services that the nation looks toward in hopes of dealing with the ongoing, new coronavirus pandemic. The virus has had a dramatic, negative impact on Bangladesh on many fronts. There have been nearly 17,000 deaths within the past few months — with the first cases being detected in early March 2020. The nation’s economy has also taken a massive hit. The annual economic growth had remained steady at around 7% for the past decade. However, now it suddenly dropped to an estimated 2%. This could potentially prove problematic for plans to increase domestic aid. Less trade and resources mean that loans would have to be taken out, to support citizens. This, alongside the projected $250 million required for clinical testing and equipment.
Vulnerable, Rural Populations: A Potential Solution
Bangladesh is working with other research centers to push for potential treatments and research on the virus. Since more than 63% of the population lives in rural areas, the situation is complex. For example, typical prevention methods in place, world-wide, such as lockdowns and social distancing will not be viable in the long-term. Many citizens are poor farmers and will be unable to provide for themselves and their families if quarantining persists for months at a time. However, a potential solution is on the horizon. With the help of the armed forces, it may be possible to install a system of clean and non-contact rationing, to provide people with the supplies and food they need. In theory, such as service could also provide medical supplies to hospitals, volunteer groups and other medical centers working on disease treatment in Bangladesh.
The economic situation of Bangladesh makes plans for dealing with the coronavirus tenuous at best. However, through their strong connections to research institutions and global organizations dedicated to providing support for these scenarios, disease treatment in Bangladesh can still be managed. Regardless of the large scale of diseases and pandemics.
– Aditya Daita
Photo: Flickr
4 Facts About Homelessness in Guinea
4 Facts About Homelessness in Guinea
Homelessness in Guinea is not an isolated issue; it is a direct result of the nation’s high incidences of poverty, disease and discrimination. Fortunately, foreign aid has the potential to eliminate these issues. Past foreign aid investments have transformed the lives of Guineans. For example, China invested $526 million in a 240-megawatt dam that more than doubled the country’s electricity supply in 2015. Similar actions can help ensure that every Guinean has a roof over their head.
– Abby Tarwater
Photo: Flickr
Holistic Mental Health Services In India For Indigenous Communities
Mental Health Services In India: A Holistic Model for Indigenous Communities
One way of addressing the cycle of poverty and mental health concerns in indigenous communities is a holistic model that draws both from community traditions as well as biomedical and psychological care paradigms. Such an approach is most effective when it treats the community members as experts on their own needs.
Hailey Shapiro ‘22, a Cornell student, spent a semester abroad in Kotagari, India, learning about public health. While she had to leave India early due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she completed her literature review about holistic mental healthcare for indigenous communities in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve region of Southern India from her home in California. Shapiro spoke to The Borgen Project about her research on the mental health and well-being issues faced by the indigenous Adivasi people in India, as well as the strengths and limitations of different strategies developed to address these issues.
“Learning from local scholars and community members was vital research. Programs to support community wellness are never a one-size-fits all, because all communities have unique resources and challenges,” Shapiro said.
The Link Between Communal Traditions and Well-Being
Adivasi communities in India have long faced disruptions to traditional ways of life. The British colonial government rarely recognized their communal land ownership traditions, which were central to traditional practices of hunting, gathering and practicing shifting cultivation. The Indian government has designated many of the forests they traditionally hunted, gathered and farmed as protected land, which means the Adivasi are still barred from using the land to feed themselves. Most Adivasi now work as day laborers for agricultural plantations and government construction programs.
Community cohesion that provided essential social support for psychological well-being in earlier times has grown weaker as the Adivasi no longer hunt or farm together as frequently and are displaced from their land. The widespread land loss not only prevents the Adivasi from supporting themselves in traditional ways, but it also causes many youths to leave the community in order to find work and has exacerbated the issues of food insecurity and poverty.
These disruptions to community support systems have caused or exacerbated stress for many community members. However, India’s main mental health program, the District Mental Health Policy, does not collaborate with non-clinical agencies to address psycho-social factors.
Community Outreach, Mental Health Services in India and Medicalization
While psychiatric medications have been found to be an effective strategy to assist those struggling with mental health concerns, The Keystone Foundation recognizes that a holistic approach can make psychiatric strategies more effective. The Keystone Foundation trains community health workers to assist with the delivery of mental health services; the organization also works with the family and friends of patients to help patients adhere to medications.
Another organization providing mental health services in India within the context of the community it serves is The Banyan, a mental healthcare nonprofit. The Banyan started as a homeless shelter and became a mental health service provider that focuses on the needs of mentally ill women in Chennai, India. The Banyan uses a variety of strategies including in-patient and outpatient care as well as community outreach and aid to those coping with both mental health struggles and poverty. Through frequent surveys, they identified that their clients wanted to stay in their homes and that facilitating work opportunities and providing healthcare in more remote areas could help make that goal possible.
According to Shapiro’s literature review, learning from the example of The Keystone Foundation, The Banyan and other providers of holistic care could lead to better mental healthcare outcomes for indigenous communities and other marginalized groups.
“We need a holistic approach to community mental health that responds to communities’ unique challenges using communities’ unique resources,” said Shapiro. “According to my research, we can learn what factors are most important to address by incorporating communities’ voices into the intervention decision-making process.”
– Tamara Kamis
Photo: Flickr
5 Organizations Helping During the Yemen Crisis
5 Organizations Helping During the Yemen Crisis
As Yemen experiences supposedly the worst humanitarian crisis, it is necessary to target the several ways people can help. While there are several of organizations providing assistance in the Yemen crisis, these five organizations allow quick and accessible aid towards medical assistance and famine control.
– Elisabeth Balicanta
Photo: Flickr
3 Alumni of Young African Leadership Initiative Fighting COVID-19
2020 marks the tenth anniversary of the creation of the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) by President Obama. Since its initiation, YALI has spurred thousands of young people into community activism, entrepreneurship, innovation and other leadership roles. Now, these alumi of the Young African Leadership Initiative are fighting COVID-19.
What is YALI?
Created in 2010 as a part of USAID, YALI invests in the young people of Africa by providing educational resources, networking connections and skillsets to create community leaders. YALI has three main components: the Mandela Fellowship Program, Regional Leadership Centers (RLCs) and the YALI network. The Mandela Fellowship Program provides young Africans with an academic experience in the U.S., while the RLCs provide at institutions of higher learning in Africa. Both the Fellowship Program and the RLCs also offer leadership training. On the other hand, the YALI Network is an entirely online resource that aims to connect community leaders so they can learn from one another and work together.
YALI and COVID-19
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the YALI organization has been involved in providing African communities with the information to combat and prevent the coronavirus. For instance, in June, YALI held a virtual conference entitled “Resiliency for Business Owners” in which panelists discussed steps entrepreneurs can take to keep their businesses afloat during the pandemic.
Alumni of the Fellowship Program, RLC participants, and the YALI Network are all working together as part of the Young African Leadership Initiative fighting COVID-19 in their communities. The following three leaders have had a particularly significant impact on their communities’ responses to the pandemic.
James Papy Kwabo Jr., a Liberian citizen, attended the Mandela Fellowship Program in 2019 and has since founded Alternative Youth Radio, the first youth radio station to exist in Liberia. After hearing misinformation about COVID-19 circulate in his community, he began using his platform to dispel false rumors and provide accurate information regarding the virus.
James broadcasts stories from other Mandela Fellowship leaders across Liberia that cover ways in which COVID-19 has affected their communities. Through this story-based approach, James hopes that members of his community will understand the gravity of the situation and take action to prevent the spread of the virus.
Elijah Addo, a Chef and alumnus of the RLC program in Ghana, founded the non-profit organization Food for All Africa in 2015, which provides food for more than 5,000 people throughout Ghana and West Africa. In February when the virus started to rapidly spread across the globe, Addo and his team began projecting which Ghanaian communities would become most vulnerable and face the greatest difficulties in accessing food. On March 22, 2020, Addo launched the Food for All Ghana COVID-19 Community Emergency Intervention program. In partnership with other organizations, this program works to ensure a continuous flow of food to communities that have become more vulnerable as a result of the pandemic. Through the distribution of food boxes across the country as well as the community kitchen operating in Accra, which is both the capital of Ghana and the city with the most reported COVID-19 cases, Addo’s emergency relief program has helped thousands.
An alumnus of the Mandela Fellowship Program, Alfred Kankuzi has brought his leadership and innovation back to Malawi. After realizing that many Malawi residents received information about COVID-19 from misleading and confusing posts on social media, Kankuzi decided to take action using his skills in software and mobile app development.
In April, Kankuzi launched the phone app “COVID-19 NEBA,” which means “Hey neighbor” in Chichewa, that provides accurate information to users such as how the virus spreads and how to prevent contracting it. Given the low literacy rates in Malawi, Kankuzi’s app also provides audio content and illustrations to convey the same information. Furthermore, the app can be translated from Chichewa into two other languages, English and Tumbuka, in order to reach a wider audience.
On the 10th anniversary of the creation of YALI, members and alumni have stepped up to the plate to assist their communities as they battle COVID-19. Because of the skills participants honed through the program, the communities most strongly impacted by poverty and the pandemic have benefited from the leadership of the Young African Leadership Initiative fighting COVID-19.
– Alanna Jaffee
Photo: Alumni.state.gov
6 Facts About Homelessness in Estonia
6 Facts About Homelessness in Estonia
As Estonia’s government has been working to reduce homelessness, programs that have helped reform housing have been effective in reducing homelessness in Estonia since the 1990s. Yet there is still work to be done – lessening the situations which cause homelessness is imperative.
– Ayesha Asad
Photo: Unsplash
Bitter Origins: Labor Exploitation in Coffee Production
Around 500 billion cups of coffee are consumed around the world in a typical year, an equivalent of 2.25 billion cups per day. The global coffee market was worth $83 billion USD in 2017 and was projected to rise steadily. Despite coffee’s popularity in modern life, few coffee drinkers realize the human cost to their caffeine fix. From inhumane working conditions to child labor and human trafficking, labor exploitation in coffee production is a bitter reality unbeknownst to consumers.
Global Trouble
The majority of coffee consumption happens in industrialized nations, with the United States, Germany and France as the largest importers. Conversely, more than 90% of coffee exports come from developing countries such as Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Mexico. Evidence suggests the presence of child labor and/or labor exploitation in coffee production in all of the above countries, in addition to many others like Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic and Uganda, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Labor.
From beans to brewing, coffee production is a multipart process that involves many intermediary stages before the final products reach retail stores. This laborious process means that it is extremely difficult for coffee retailers to track the origins of their coffee and ensure ethical labor practices at the source. It also means that only a small fraction – often 7% to 10%, but sometimes as low as 1% to 3% – of the retail price reaches the hands of coffee farmers. Fluctuations in coffee prices often result in farmers not earning a living wage, which jeopardizes the survival and health of their families.
Farmers’ Reality
Growing coffee requires intensive manual work such as picking, sorting, pruning, weeding, spraying, fertilizing and transporting products. Plantation workers often toil under intense heat for up to 10 hours a day, and many face debt bondage and serious health risks due to exposure to dangerous agrochemicals. In Guatemala, coffee pickers often receive a daily quota of 45 kilograms just to earn the minimum wage: $3 a day. To meet this minimum demand, parents often pull their children out of school to work with them. This pattern of behavior jeopardizes children’s health and education in underdeveloped rural areas, where they already experience significant barriers and setbacks.
Forced labor is widely reported in coffee-growing regions in Guatemala and Côte d’Ivoire. Workers suffer physical violence as well as threats of loss of work, wages, or food if they fail to perform at a certain – often unreasonable – standard. Many work without a contract, timely payment, protective gear, or appropriate medical care. Migrants are especially vulnerable since many cannot afford to return home and have to rely on plantation work to survive.
Child Labor and Exploitation
About 20% of children in coffee-growing countries fall victim to labor exploitation in coffee cultivation. Facing demanding quotas, workers often bring their children to help in the field in order to earn a living wage. The U.S. Department of Labor reports an estimated 34,131 children laborers growing coffee in Vietnam, 12,526 of which are under the age of 15. The same report finds almost 5,000 children under 14 working on coffee plantations in Brazil, often without a contract or protective equipment. In Côte d’Ivoire, children are subject to human trafficking and forced labor. Children are forcibly transported to coffee plantations from nearby countries including Benin, Mali, Togo and Burkina Faso and recruited to work for little or no pay, often for three or four years until they could return home. Threats of violence and withheld payments prevent them from leaving the farms, and many suffer from denial of food and sick leave.
Many South American countries have launched extensive and effective social programs and policies to address child labor and labor exploitation in coffee farms. In 2018, Colombia made significant advancements in efforts to tackle child labor through its campaign Working is Not a Child’s Task, the National Policy on Childhood and Adolescence, and the Center for the Crime of Trafficking in Persons. The Brazilian government funded and participated in programs that target child labor, such as the #StopChildLabor (#ChegaDeTrabalhoInfantil) Campaign and the Living Together and Strengthening Links Program (Serviço de Convivência e Fortalecimento de Vínculo).
The Fair Trade Movement
In the past decade, labor exploitation in coffee cultivation has garnered attention worldwide. As a result, many socially aware businesses have committed to a fair trade approach that promotes better profits for farmers and more sustainability in farming practices. Among other objectives, the fair trade movement works to give farmers a higher price for their coffee under conditions that strictly prohibit the use of exploitative practices. Ethically certified coffee brands such as Equal Exchange and Cafedirect have risen in popularity as consumers become more aware of labor exploitation issues. Certification schemes such as Fairtrade International, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ Certified bring value to socially conscious businesses and encourage trading practices that empower smallholder farmers.
– Alice Nguyen
Photo: Flickr