Day 1: Fairtrade, Organic and “Bird Friendly” Coffees in Ecuador

Harvesting the Cherries

Our first visit was to the farm of Don Vincente Abad and his wife. Don Vincente owns approximately 1 hectare of land, situated at 1200m above sea level, most of which is covered with coffee trees.

As he proudly showed us his trees, which had mostly been harvested, I was shocked at how little they seemed to understand about coffee farming. Coffee trees always look miserable when their cherries have just been harvested but it was obvious that these trees were not cared for and were producing very little. Don Vincente produces about 12 ‘quintales’ (100 Lbs weight) per hectare compared with the farmer ‘just up the road’ who is producing 40 per hectare.

In discussions with him and Roberto it transpired that whilst many of his trees are 40 years old, they have rarely been pruned. This is for 2 reasons; many farmers lack the training and education to know how and when to prune, pruning also means that, during the following year, the tree will not yield any coffee, thus reducing the farmers income. These people are truly subsistence farmers.

The Fairtrade system is clearly just getting going in this region. Don Vincente told me that, when the market is low, Fairtrade can give him twice the market price. In today’s market however he is selling to middlemen and the cooperative – it simply depends on who will give him the highest price at the time. 

As we climbed to 1900m we met a second farmer whose farm is certified Organic and Smithsonian Institute Bird Friendly. Here the yields were significantly greater (most coffee was still on the trees as we were much higher up the mountainside) and the trees were much better cared for.  The trees all growing under the shade of natural vegetation, no fertiliser and large quantities of organic material – fallen branches, leaves etc.