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Mitsubishi Corp is supporting small farmers in Colombia under its international contributions program, and in collaboration with the Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia (FNC).
It will export their first batch of coffee beans for sale in the Japanese market later this year.
The Colombian government has launched a series of national campaigns to reduce the extent to which poor farming communities resort to the cultivation of illegal crops. Mitsubishi is supporting this program, by providing skills development training related to infrastructure and environmental protection to small coffee farmers in Norte de Santander over a 10-year period. Support is centered mainly on boosting capacity for pulping and drying coffee berries cultivated locally.
Mitsubishi has also entered into an agreement to purchase the coffee processed by 288 Norte de Santander farmers supported under the program for sale in the Japanese market. This is the first time that coffee produced by small-scale farmers in a specific location is being imported into Japan, which has traditionally focused on the import of blended coffee or imported from other coffee-producing regions.
Securing the export of their product to a major coffee-consuming market such as Japan is expected to go a long way in helping to reduce levels of poverty among small coffee farmers in the region while at the same time contribute to eradicating the cultivation of illegal crops in Colombia.
The aroma-rich coffee, typical of highly-acclaimed Colombian coffee beans, is valued above the $3.40 per kilogram average, which attests to the quality of the product. Consumers in Japan can expect to start enjoying this high-quality coffee from around October or November of this year.
© JCN Newswire
5 Comments
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sensei258
Sounds like a good idea. I wonder how it will be marketed here.
cevin7
As a coffee lover, I'm really looking forward to it. :D
warispeace
If this is really the case, then what are all those beans from local farmers from Central America and elsewhere around the world that are sold in my neighbourhood coffee shop?
This article raves about Mitsubishi, but it doesn't tell us what the local farmers are actually getting paid for their coffee and how much of a markup Mitsubishi will make.
The real motive behind Mitsubishi's involvement is the growth of demand for coffee and dwindling supplies from now due to climate change. This is an opportunity for profit. Since this article (not clearly labeled by JT) is just a corporate press release, this motive isn't stated.
Here is an article about Mitsubishi's purchase of a stake in a Brazilian coffee farm. The motive is clearly stated as the article is not a corporate press release. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/03/us-mitsubishi-brazil-coffee-idUSBRE8320YI20120403
descendent
@warispeace
I assume that small-scale farmers are more vulnerable to exploitation from your typical coffee traders/middle-men, and this project this gives them more direct access to the lucrative Japanese market. Although Mitsubishi's involvement will no doubt, in the long run, be as a business venture ... this immediate project appears to be CSR, and they are a business after all, so I don't know why you seem to be calling them out on that. The promotion of this as a win-win for both producers and consumers is what businesses are in the business of doing (it's called marketing).
SenseNotSoCommon
Do Mitsubishi really expect us to swallow this, or is it an accidental misuse of 'a' rather than the more plausible 'that' (specific region)?
http://www.altertrade.co.jp/english/02/cof_e/cof_04_e.html