Growers First Inc.
P.O. Box 4227
Laguna Beach, CA 92652
Phone: 949.551.1085
Email: info@growersfirst.org
The Plight of Rural Growers
Agriculture play a significant role in the lives of poor people in developing countries. Extreme poverty - defined by the World Bank as those living on less than $1.25 per day – affects more than half the population in developing regions (58 %) and totals about one-and-a-half billion people worldwide. More than 75% of the poverty stricken live in rural areas where agriculture typically constitutes up to 90% of total household income.
According to the International Coffee Organization:
- Coffee is the most highly traded agricultural commodity in the world – reaching 17 billion pounds annually.
- Over 25 million families around the world rely completely upon coffee as their only source of income.
- A single mature coffee tree (bush) will typically yield about a pound of roasted coffee beans.
- The grower receives about 20 cents per pound for the raw berries (typically 5-6 pounds) that are hand picked from an entire tree.
- For a typical $3 cup of coffee from a shop, a small grower receives about 3 to 4 cents – about the cost of the lid.
- In recent years, coffee growers earned less than their ancestors did 100 years ago (inflation adjusted).
This creates a situation where small growers can barely eke out a subsistence living. Because of this, many heads of households choose to leave their families and go to large commercial areas (frequently in the United States) to seek an income that can support their families.
Without the intervention of organizations like Growers First, small indigenous growers of commodity products have no real hope of lifting themselves out of this inequity and injustice. Only by coming together as a community of growers with cooperative synergies and access to the world markets – provided by Growers First – can they create an enterprise which truly improves their social and economic quality of life.
