US Plans to Rejoin International Coffee Organization

US membership will help create solutions to coffee crisis.

OXFAM
September 16, 2004

In a move praised around the world by coffee farmer advocates and coffee consuming countries alike, the United States government announced its intention to rejoin the International Coffee Organization, the international forum for coffee trade policy and production. About 25 million farmers depend on coffee crops to feed their families. But plummeting coffee prices have created a global humanitarian crisis where farmers in poor countries sell their coffee beans for much less than they spend to harvest them, creating increased poverty, hunger, and dislocation in 50 coffee-growing countries. The US government's involvement with the ICO could help strengthen international efforts to alleviate that problem, said Seth Petchers, Coffee Program Coordinator for Oxfam America. As the largest coffee importing nation in the world, representing about a quarter of the world's consumption, the US can push for quality improvement programs, direct market access, and diversification initiatives, which could help increase the price that family farmers receive. "Coffee plays a crucial role in the economic health of communities in poor countries all over the world," Petchers said. "If the US steps of up to the plate, they might be able to put serious money into development programs that would increase the share of the price of coffee farmers receive." Robert Nelson, president and CEO of the National Coffee Association, said the US had made a "historic decision." "I believe the main goal of representatives from US government when they go to the ICO will be to promote, policies and practices that ultimately create an environment where farmers can affectively compete in the global marketplace," Nelson said. "US membership, through taking an active leadership role, can very much ensure future sustainability of the worldwide coffee industry." The US was a founding member of the ICO in 1963, but it left the group in 1993 to protest what it regarded as one group impeding the free market system. Some believe the ICO's approach has appeared more market-oriented in recent years. Plus, nongovernmental groups like Oxfam America have worked with congress people on both sides of the aisle to encourage the US government to realize the important role it could play if it returned to the ICO. US Rep Sam Farr (D-California), who pushed for US intervention in the coffee crisis, said he saw firsthand how important coffee crops could be to sustaining developing nations when he worked as a Peace Corp volunteer in Colombia in the 1960s. US membership in the ICO won't immediately solve the problems of coffee farmers around the world, he said, but "it's a gigantic step forward." Oxfam America urged the US to rejoin the ICO through its Make Trade Fair campaign. Oxfam America also assists coffee growing cooperatives, educates consumers, and promotes the retail sales of Fair Trade Certified coffee.

Source: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/2528.html