The Aussie's favourite beverage... exposed?
By Maddy Reid
I was sitting in my favourite coffee shop when inspiration struck and I knew I needed to write this blog;
See, a large historic timeline of coffee hung from the walls listing the ways the famous beverage has developed over hundreds of years. The extensive lists of countries that are involved in the coffee making process were mind-boggling; and developing countries were particularly prevalent.
I looked around the shop and watched the 25 or so individuals enjoying their morning coffee, it got me thinking; ‘so often, it’s actually our favourite products and businesses which are the ones to engage in the most unethical practices’ … ‘but surely coffee would be different since it’s so lucrative?’
Upon that thought, I decided to do some research; starting my Googling as I sat in that very cafe.
It began with a simple search: ‘Is coffee development an ethical industry?’
… and sadly, I was hardly surprised by the results I found.
Did you know …?
Coffee is the most popular drink consumed by the developed world. And according to statistics, almost 19 million Australian’s drink coffee - more than a whopping 75% of the population! Of this percentage, 27% have 3 or more coffee’s a day. Therefore, as a nation we consume 37 million kilograms of coffee a year. Now that’s a LOT of coffee. On a more global scale over 1 billion people drink a coffee every day – so it’s not just us Aussie’s who love caffeine.
with 24,949 cafes located in Australia, it’s clear that coffee is a pivotal part of our culture.
It brings friends together, allows university students to get through long nights of study and sustains the average 9-5er on their way into the office.
Yet sadly, coffee comes with a long history of slavery and colonialism. Production of coffee beans continues to be linked to exploitation and child labor.
Have you ever stopped to question where your coffee comes from? And perhaps more importantly, whether your coffee ethically produced?
Where does coffee come from?
There are two types of coffee beans used in commercial coffee production: Arabica and Robusta. Arabica coffee beans (widely known as the better quality of the two) comes from Latin America, Ethiopia and Kenya. Robusta however, is grown in countries like Brazil, Uganda and Vietnam. These warm and humid climates make for the perfect environment to grow such crops. It is estimated that coffee farmers earn roughly 7% of the retail price of coffee. In Brazil however, farmers earn less than 2% of the retail price - this is extremely low, considering the gruelling hours that go into farming coffee beans under the hot sun in that corner of the world.
This statistic is extra disheartening, however, considering Australia as a nation spends over $3 billion on coffee annually. So why isn’t more of that money going to those doing the hardest yards to get it to us?
child labour in coffee
Many families in these countries are entrenched in poverty and are struggling to simply feed their children. As a result, many parents remove their children from school and send them to work on the coffee plantations, hence why child labour is so prevalent within the industry. The prices of coffee in the Western world often fluctuate over time – when prices increase the incentive for poor families to remove their children from education facilities and send them to work heightens. On the flip side, when the cost of coffee decreases, the financial security for families relying upon the coffee industry also declines.
Furthermore, when child education is ceased; this is a catalyst for ongoing poverty to sweep through generations. A survey taken in Brazil shows that child working rates were 37% higher and school enrolment was 3% lower in areas where coffee is produced. It was found that children as young as 6 years old were working longer than 10 hour days in these harsh and dangerous working conditions. Overall, majority of individuals who work at the coffee plantations are young women and children, because employers can get away with paying them significantly less than adult males.
Enslaved for generations
Another sad reality for those working at coffee plantations, is that a multitude are enslaved through debt which must be repaid through physical labour. This phenomenon is known as ‘Bonded Labour’. Many of the plantation owners are elite members of the community and own much of the communal land and local businesses. Numerous people living in the local community struggle to purchase food and other goods to sustain their families, and thus become indebted to their landowners who might provide small amounts of goods for years of manual labor.
As a result, many of those working at the plantations are enslaved for generations. This forms a long cycle of slavery, which is immensely complex to break without outside intervention as debtors are often deliberately paid less than makes it possible to pay back those who they owe.
Call to action
The purpose of this blog or the information within, is certainly not to make you feel bad about drinking coffee! But here at The Freedom Project, we want our readers to be aware and educated about the products that you and your friends consume every day. We encourage you to take a few moments to research the coffee you consume.
Asking the following questions can made a big difference when seeking to be an ethical consumer:
Where is this coffee made?
How are the plantation farmers treated in that region?
Do they have laws regarding child labour?
Are the farmers paid an adequate income to sustain their families?
If the answers to these questions is clearly unethical or the information is simply unavailable, we would highly recommend that you switch to a brand of coffee that promotes a working environment free from slavery!
Below are a list of coffee brands we encourage you to check out:
Just Coffee - this coffee is farmed in Mexico. The owners strive to pay their workers well and cover health care and social security.
Change coffee - This coffee enterprise was developed in Melbourne - they have a vision to change the coffee plantation industry. They are 100% fair-trade certified - this means there is protection for workers rights, no child labour and they promote preservation for the environment.
Manumit coffee roasters - This “coffee is roasted by men and women who have suffered horrendous exploitation at the hands of modern slave traders but are now rebuilding their lives”.
Make a difference now
Did you know, that for the cost of just one $5 coffee per week,
you can help keep a child in our Sport For Life Trafficking-prevention program?
Click below to sign up for Coffee Money Mondays and transform a life today !