Direct aid in the context of effective partnerships

How can we reduce our water consumption to a minimum, and what do we do with the waste water generated in the processing of raw coffee? How do we use and store chemicals and fertilisers appropriately to avoid harm to people? How do we put on protective clothing properly? And how do we treat our employees with dignity and respect? Working with local partners on the ground, Tchibo conducts projects in countries where we source coffee, in which we provide farmers with expertise in the area of ecologically and socially responsible coffee cultivation and for management and planning.

Guatemala: preparing coffee farmers for certification of their farms

An example: Our Guatemala Grande coffee is very popular with our customers. Of course we want to ensure that we will be able to continue servicing demand for it in the future. The quantities of raw coffee which meet the organoleptic and sustainability quality requirements for our Guatemala Grande are currently limited. We want this to change, and so we have already prepared ten farms, some of them large, in the Huehuetenango region for certification to Rainforest Alliance standard and accompanied them through the process. Via our partner organisations, we provide material, expertise and training to help create the required conditions. This combination of knowledge provision and financial support with the necessary investments leads in the long term to strengthened local structures and improvements for people and the environment, as well as a secure supply of the sustainable coffee we need for our business. This successful programme has now been extended to further partners and coffee farms.

Small farmers often suffer particular disadvantage

We go above and beyond our commitment to securing supply of the sustainable coffee we require by our work as a founder member of International Coffee Partners (ICP). Through this membership, in a current total of 16 projects in twelve countries, we have for ten years now been supporting small farmers, who often suffer particular disadvantage and find it very difficult to make their coffee production sustainable without outside help. ICP projects are not selected according to the partners’ demand for raw coffee, but rather in accordance with the need for action at the products’ origin.

Dialogue with stakeholders makes long-term improvements possible

Coffee production involves millions of women and men with a wide range of interests and rights. If we are to help the sector become more sustainable overall, we need to get to know and understand these people’s perspectives and needs. It is only in dialogue with all stakeholders that we can identify paths leading to binding standards in the interests of people and planet. We will not succeed if we tackle this task alone. As a founder member of the 4C Association, we work hard on further developing social, ecological and economic conditions for the production, processing and trade of coffee – and on adapting them to the challenges of tomorrow.

Climate change and its consequences – a new key issue in 2010 

We work with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the 4C Association, our trading partner ECOM Coffee and further partners to support coffee farmers in adapting their cultivation methods to the challenges posed by climate change. Key components of this project are providing training to farmers and drawing up measures in a joint process to educate farmers on how they might adapt to climate change.

One of the project’s objectives is to draft a suggestion to supplement the 4C baseline standard with a voluntary climate-related component. This module then educates farmers, as well as on good practice with regard to cultivation and social responsibility, on how they can make their farms more resistant to the effects of climate change and simultaneously save CO₂. The module is complemented by dialogue-based training tools for coffee farmers with the purpose of raising awareness and drawing up locally relevant and appropriate measures.

Our goal: 100 per cent sustainably produced coffee

The ultimate aim of our commitment is to use exclusively raw coffee that has been cultivated in a ecologically and socially responsible manner. It will be a difficult journey to this 100 per cent goal – but we will keep going, step by step. The year 2015 proimises to be an important milestone. By this date, we intend to be sourcing as much raw coffee as possible from sustainable cultivation. Standards associations and their local partner organisations are our crucial allies in our attempts to educate coffee farmers on more sustainable practices and ensure their long-term application.

We are currently working with the following standards associations:

Standards associations that do not issue seals and certifications