The NZ Specialty Coffee Association was one of the foundation financial contributors to the Next Generation Coffee Fund. We thought our members would like some information on how the fund has progressed…
Trade Aid established the Next Generation Coffee Fund in 2010, in response to feedback from coffee farmers who weren’t able to afford the cost of replacing aging coffee trees with newer, more productive trees, and who were stuck producing less and less coffee over time. The NGC Fund has been established to receive grants from the New Zealand coffee industry and to distribute these to farmers in greatest need through a revolving loan facility, with 100% of the value of contributions being passed on. To date, the Fund has received and paid out more than $60,000 to farmers, and due to the use of a revolving loan system the number of farmers who are receiving support from the Fund is snowballing over time. This support is critical to farmers in desperate need of financial help and who are struggling to maintain their coffee production.
Trade Aid will be paying out a fourth instalment of Next Generation Coffee Fund grants to farmer co-operatives shortly and welcomes grants from past and new contributors to the Fund. More information on this fund can be obtained at this link> or by contacting Justin Purser at justin.purser@tradeaid.org.nz or at (0508) 872 332 ext 236
Photographed is Romeo Mendoza, from the Guaya’b cooperative in Guatemala, was one of the first farmers to receive support through the Next Generation Coffee Fund to carry out coffee renovation work that he otherwise couldn’t have afforded to do. He has already paid back some of the loan financing he received into the co-op’s common fund, money which has since been loaned out to another farmer in financial need. Romeo’s recently renovated plants are growing quickly; the plants in this photo had only been planted in June 2012 but are already of impressive size.