by Peter Torrebiarte, director of coffee sustainability
I am in the Entebbe, Uganda airport on our first stop of the journey back home. We miss Rwanda already. They were seven intense
days that gave Starbucks the best Rwanda has to offer; coffee producers
full of pride in what they do yet humble of what they accomplish.
Looking not for help but for a valued business partner. I am very
privileged to continue to be able to experience the best of human
spirit and to live the results of what Starbucks can achieve; one cup,
one bean, one connection at a time
We have no false illusions. We
have been charged by our leaders and the farmers to work even harder to
resolve issues related to financing, reducing cost of production,
consistency of high quality sustainable coffee. The good news is this;
we have learned a great number of lessons from farmers in other regions that will help us work together to come up with solutions.
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by Peter Torrebiarte, director of coffee sustainability
These past two days have been incredible. On Saturday we visited four coffee farmer co-ops, traveling over the majestic mountains of Rwanda. Now I truly understand why they call it the country of one thousand hills. At the first co-op the farmers were very proud to share the work they have done with us. Our friends, Technoserve gave them the ability to purchase and install a new washing station or wet mill at 1/4 of the cost of the traditional wet mill. The added efficiency and environmental benefits are notable. Over the past year these farmers organized, this enabled them to improve their quality and sell at a better price. Together with Fair Trade executives we also were able to visit a Fair Trade co-op. After a hard year of low crop yields, they also have improved their practices to improve the yield and quality of their coffee.
Sunday was an exhilarating experience. With Howard, we visited a co-op of coffee farmers in a remote area of Rwanda. We sat down and had a meeting with 12 farmers who represented the 1800 farmers of the co-op. We discussed issues that the farmers see as obstacles to their continued progress and talked about what we could do collectively to provide solutions. It was very empowering for all of us, especially the farmers.
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by Peter Torrebiarte, director of coffee sustainability
On Friday I had quite a different day than what I am used to, which is going to coffee farms. I was lucky enough to go visit the two suppliers of our Rwanda art merchandise that we have in the stores. It was an incredible experience to hear the amazing stories of struggle and now success of many of the master seamstress and weavers. The fabrics produced for our bags was the first time ever full container load of manufactured product in Rwanda to be exported to the United States. Up to now only products like coffee had been exported in full container loads. Once again as it is with coffee farmers, successful business is a result of human spirit.
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by Peter Torrebiarte, director of coffee sustainability
This is Peter from the coffee department at Starbucks and I just completed the long journey from Seattle to Kigali, Rwanda. While I’m here, I’ll post a short overview of the day’s activities. We are here with the Fairtrade UK team and are really looking forward to meeting local coffee farmers while we explore the great coffee in Rwanda and officially open our Farmer Support Center. Stay tuned for the updates and hope you enjoy them.
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