Building Resilient Value Chains After the Impact of the COVID-19 Disruption: Challenges for the Coffee Sector in Central America

Coffee is an important agricultural sector in Central American, directly employing over 1.2 million people in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Although export revenues from coffee trade have an overall positive effect on the gross domestic product (GDP) of these countries, poverty still prevails. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed additional pressure on the sector which is vulnerable to fluctuations in the international coffee prices, low productivity levels, and climate change effects and damages caused by pest and diseases. This paper examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzes if the sector is resilient to withstand unexpected external shocks such as the pandemic and the hurricanes which impacted the region in the last months of 2020. The capacity to absorb, adapt, and/or transform to these shocks was assessed from the perspective of small-scale coffee farmers, traders, exporters and the entire sector in two time periods—immediately after the start of the pandemic and after the coffee harvest. Although the actors in the coffee value chain absorbed these shocks and could withstand them, adaptation to the disruptions has been challenging for small-scale farmers. Despite the vulnerability to unexpected external shocks, results indicate that a long-term transformation of the sector to build resilience is likely to be slow.

Growing Inequality in the Coffee Global Value Chain: A Complex Network Assessment

Following the liberalization of the coffee sector, governance and power balance in the international coffee trade has changed, with associated impacts on livelihoods in producing countries, most of which are middle- and low-income countries. Drawing on trade data for the period 1995–2018, we examine the dynamics and evolution of the international green coffee market to shed light on the re-distribution of value in the coffee supply chain. Data analysis shows that, over the studied period, the green coffee trade has increased considerably while the number of countries with a relevant role in trade has decreased, so that large exporting countries cover a higher share of trade, to the detriment of small exporting countries. We analyzed various properties of the global coffee trade network to provide insight on the relative contribution of countries not only in terms of their export value but also in terms of other selected features. The green coffee trade has gone from being distributed in many traditionally coffee-producing countries to concentrating mainly on the major coffee producers, as well as in some non-producing countries. These changes in the structure of the international green coffee market have led to greater inequality between producing and importing countries.

Relational contracts and value chain governance: exporter approaches to overcoming transaction costs in Rwanda's coffee sector

Purpose In developing countries, local buyers often rely on relational contracting based on reciprocity and trust. This paper analyzes relational contracting and global value chain (GVC) governance by focusing on how domestic and foreign coffee exporters in Rwanda confront challenges.Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 representatives of Rwandan private, Rwandan cooperative-owned and foreign exporters, and four coffee sector stakeholders.Findings Foreign firms export most Rwandan coffee, and local exporters express concerns about their ability to compete. Rwandan exporters face challenges accessing capital, competing with foreign firms and managing high transaction costs. They use relational contracts to reduce transaction costs, and they benefit from a monopsony zoning regulation that reduces competition. Foreign exporters face regulatory challenges: a government-set coffee price and the zoning regulation. They vertically integrate to reduce costs and lock in suppliers through prefinancing.Research limitations/implications Future research should analyze differences between local and foreign exporters in other contexts to advance understanding of the different challenges faced and contracting approaches used.Originality/value Few GVC governance studies address the role of relational contracts in contexts where enforcement is costly. Considering relational contracts within GVCs can improve value chain analysis, specifically in the developing countries where many GVCs start.

ANALISA PENYEBAB TURUNNYA PRODUKSI KOPI ROBUSTA KABUPATEN TEMANGGUNG

Indonesia has a potency in the coffee sector. Many robusta coffee farmers really depending on the coffee sector. For the example, 75% of coffee farmers in Temanggung Regency work in the robusta coffee sector. Fluctuations and declining coffee production can be a burden for coffee potency optimization and decreasing the income of the coffee farmers. This study aims to determine the factors that can affect the declining of Robusta coffee production in Temanggung Regency. The analytical methods used in this study are Value Chain Analysis, Forward Linkage and Backward Linkage, and Fishbone Analysis. The author is using secondary and primary data. Secondary data was obtained from Statistics Indonesia and Directorate General of Plantations at the Ministry of Agriculture.Primary data was obtained from interviews with 3 key informans Robusta coffee farmers in Gesing Village who eligible. The result showed that age of plants and distance of each plants, lack of coffee picking services, weather and lack of cooperation and other sectors, such as the trade sector and the industrial sector can lead into a decreasing of coffee production.

Indian Coffee: A Quadragenary Growth Analysis

Coffee, the favorite beverage of the civilized world, plays a more significant role in India’s trade-dependent agriculture. More than 70 percent (3,08,148 tonnes) of coffee produced in the country was exported in the year 2020. The majority of Indian coffee plantations are in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The present study overviews the growth trends in the area, production, productivity, and export of Indian coffee from 1980-81 to 2019-20 by employing CAGR estimates. Indian coffee exhibited an overall growth of 1.98, 2.96, 0.98, 4.42, and 10.37 percent in area, production, productivity, quantity, and value of export, respectively, over the last 40 years. Even with significant positive growth in all the components, the Indian coffee sector is experiencing difficulties due to climatic aberrations, bottlenecks in the export business, including quality issues, and heavy competition from traditional and emerging coffee growers and traders in the international market.

Women’s Tears or Coffee Blight?

The transformations of the coffee sector have posed major challenges to rural farmers who have lost an important source of income. However, the way in which such shocks are experienced by families hinges on the gender relations governing families’ production and sale of coffee. In this article, it is argued that in Meru, Tanzania, which once had a strong coffee economy, the production of coffee depended on the subjugation of women by men. The collapse of coffee has created new opportunities for women. They do not mourn its demise, as one might expect from a merely financial perspective. At the same time, women’s new opportunities for income earning and business are also contested by men. The changes in this part of Tanzania in response to recent transformations can only be understood through the gender dynamics, and the contests, they fuel.

Analysis of the Technological Evolution of Coffee Production in Brazil

Coffee is one of the most important crops in the Brazilian agricultural sector. In order to position itself as the largest producer and exporter of grains, since to maintain levels, the sector has been associating and introducing concepts of new technologies in the field, processing, as well as in the introduction of increasingly modern equipment. The objective of this work was to verify if the increase in technology provides an increase in production and productivity. Thus, its development started based on data collections from the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) in relation to the evolution of new technologies in the Brazilian coffee sector, raising information on patent deposits carried out between the years 1977 and 2017. to collect and classify according to the classification of the IPC (International Classification of Patents), separating according to its technological level and in its area of operation (field, processing and industrial equipment). Performed from the data survey, a verification by the Pearson correlation between the variables. Observing that even with the reduction of areas destined to the culture cultivation, it was possible to identify an increase in production. Evidence that can be associated with the development and application of efficient management, implementation and structuring of technological concepts. In addition to the acceptance of the insertion of new tools and the qualification of labor by the producers, given the need to ensure productive values and guarantee a quality product for the final consumer.

Institutional barriers to coffee tourism development: insights from Ethiopia – the birthplace of coffee

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify pathways to improve the performance and competitiveness of Ethiopia's tourism sector using coffee as one essential tourism experience, thereby improving the socio-economic conditions of the local communities who depend on coffee for their livelihoods. Design/methodology/approach Based upon qualitative focus group discussions undertaken with key informants in both the coffee and tourism sectors in Ethiopia. Findings Despite the existing tourism development potential, Ethiopia has not yet fully exploited this position. While the country uses coffee to assist its destination marketing strategies, practical interventions to position coffee as a primary tourism product are absent and remain of critical importance. Research limitations/implications In this exploratory study key informant participants from government and industry share their experience within this policy domain. It is acknowledged that future research aiming to provide a fuller picture of governance in this domain would also include the perspective of community-level coffee growers. Practical implications Paramount among the implications of this study is the need to enhance cross-sectoral planning and collaboration and to establish a bridging organisation that will help integrate the agricultural (coffee) sector and the tourism sector. Social implications This study identifies key governance-related obstacles to addressing rural poverty through coffee-related agri-tourism initiatives in Ethiopia. Originality/value This paper addresses, from a governance perspective, the obstacles and opportunities for coffee as a tourism product/experience in Ethiopia. The paper identifies what interventions and innovations in policy and practice are necessary to enhance the role of Ethiopia's coffee culture in the performance of the country's tourism sector.