While responsible sourcing helps us recognize farmers who produce exceptional coffees using best-in-class techniques, Peet’s wanted to help smallholder farmers who have the potential to produce high-quality coffee and the interest in learning the skills and techniques to do so. That’s why we created the Farmer Assistance Program.
One of our current Farmer Assistance projects is in Ethiopia. Since the 2013-14 harvest, we’ve offered training to eight coffee cooperatives representing thousands of farmers near Jimma and focused on improving coffee processing techniques. The training, provided through our non-profit partner TechnoServe, has helped farmers unlock their potential to produce high-quality coffees, leading to higher incomes and meaningful investments in their personal lives and community.
To support coffee farmers in Alotenango, Guatemala, we work with TechnoServe, our non-profit partner of 18 years, to provide training in coffee agronomy. Currently, our project trains over 600 farmers and aims to increase both the quantity and quality of the coffee they produce and, through these efforts, their incomes. We are proud to support this truly life-changing work and to invest in their community’s resilience.
Our Farmer Assistance project in Alotenango organizes coffee farmers into groups, and then each group elects a focal farmer who offers a small piece of land to be used as a demonstration plot, which functions like an experimental classroom. The monthly group trainings take place at the demonstration plot, and cover a range of seasonally-driven agronomy topics. Topics include shade tree management, pruning and rejuvenation, mulching, nutrition, and harvesting, among others.
Through our non-profit partner TechnoServe, we offer training in Rwanda to smallholder coffee farmers and millers focused on environmental sustainability best practices. Currently, we provide training focused on helping farmers use agricultural inputs and application equipment responsibly, and train millers to manage waste water using simple, innovative techniques such as vetiver grass wetlands. Vetiver grass wetlands are an effective way to absorb water and quicken evaporation, thanks to the grass' deep root structure and surface area. In 2017, we trained all our millers and over 700 farmers.
Farmer Assistance brings training to smallholder coffee farmers through a Peet’s partnership with TechnoServe, a non-profit organization that was an early leader in leveraging coffee farming to raise incomes and improve quality of life. By focusing on creating value through entrepreneurship and teaching best practices, TechnoServe has not only changed the lives of farmers, but the communities they live in. The organization's training integrates three areas of importance.
This is training for smallholder farmers focused on increasing coffee yields, reducing production costs, and improving milling and processing techniques that ensure quality.
To be successful, smallholder farmers need to operate like small businesses. Training in accounting, record keeping, and book-keeping enables farmers to lead viable, profitable enterprises.
Training in environmental and social best practices enables farmers to make informed decisions throughout the coffee lifecycle, such as diverting pulp water from wet mills to wetlands instead of allowing it to re-enter waterways untreated.
