Drink coffee, fight poverty (hmm, I like the sound of that)

This year my desire is to figure out what sustainable, long-term, practical things are being done to end poverty, especially in the area of agriculture and economics. At times its discouraging because there are a lot of failed attempts. But there are bright rays of hope too. Heres one of them Im witnessing firsthand...


So all of us know at least SOMEthing about Starbucks. Even non-coffee drinkers recognize that they have a cool logo. And those who work there part-time in college (or after) know that they offer great employee benefits.

Well Ive got to make another shout out to Starbucks, and its for their CAFE Practices certification program.


In my opinion, this appraoch (social business) is one great way to fight poverty.

First of all, its a fact that of the billions of dollars spent by the US government and NGOs (including well-meaning Christian ones) to fight poverty fail to make much of a difference (according to Paul Collier, University of Oxford; Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State to name a few). This is due to a number of factors including politics, inefficiency and corruption.


Its also a fact that businesses have both influence and power. Thats where Starbucks comes in. They've created a certification for coffee farmers called CAFE Practices which provides producers with a premium price for their coffee in exchange for adherance to specific quality, social, and environmental guidelines.


So youre probably thinking, well thats just Fairtrade, but Starbucks has taken the whole thing a step further. (Not to get into too many details, but Fairtrade doesnt actually help small farmers a whole lot, at least not in Nicaragua).

Starbucks, as part of their business initiative, not only offers certification and technical advice, but small loans to farmers as well. This allows farmers to purchase better equipment, often with their neighbors, to make their farms more efficient and improve the quality of their coffee to reach Starbucks expectations. Starbucks has experienced a Gramean-bank-like 99% repayment rate (extremely rare, by the way). Why?

Starbucks, as a business has the power to create pressure, a factor that is gaining influence in this globalized world. They have a vested interest in the sucess of the farmers it has loaned money too. The farmers have an incentive to repay the loans, recognizing that a continued relationship with Starbucks ensures them technical advice and higher coffee prices. Its mutually beneficial.

Besides finances, CAFE Pratices is doing a great deal to lift people out of poverty. Poverty is very much a psycological problem. Most rural poor in Nicaragua, instead of taking the initiative to better their own lives, have become reliant on handouts. They often feel like they have no value, no voice, and no future, which further encourages them to do nothing. Starbucks has changed that attitude in many ways. Farmers under CAFE Practices recognize that they too can take part in the global economy. They have something that the world wants, they have power, they can make changes that will affect their own future. Starbucks is the link thats making it happen.

PAC actually has a model very similar to Starbucks, with 120 of their small coffee farmers currently in the first (of 3) years needed to obtain CAFE Practices certification, with hope to increase the number of certified farmers each year.

While CAFE Practices isnt perfect, it's still an impressive effort thats making a difference. It makes me glad to see that not every aspect of large corporations are bad, at least not in the mind of small Nicaraguan coffee producers.

¡Mis amigos catrachos!

So the last week I had an opportunity to take off a week from work and travel up north to Honduras. Numerous cars had the sticker "Catrachos al copa mundial" or something like that - well anyways its the second time every that Honduras (Catrachos) are going to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa, and theyre super excited!

So I had two reasons to go to Honduras, first of all two of my cousins, Matt and Sherylnn, were visiting to delivery what are called PETs (personal energy transport) which are basically wheelchairs that people can power with their hands. The second reason was to visit the University Zamorano, considered the best agriculture university, including in development, in Latin America. I had a connection through my advisor at K-State, Dr. Boland, who teaches there sometimes, as well as through a couple students from K-State and Zamorano that Ive met through the exchange program between the universities. Here's how it went down...

Sherlynn and Matt, (with a helper!), standing next to a pet. Close to 300 were shipped in boxes from Moundridge, KS and assembled at several different churches throughout Honduras.

Some new friends, Eduardo and Daniel, who gave me lots of insights into Honduranian culture.

Escuela Agrícola Panamericana Zamorano, where I had the opportunity to meet the director of "Social-economic and environmental development," A. Sanders, a very interesting and insightful meeting that brought to light a lot of challenges and opportunities in development in Latin America. For more details, ask me!

The night after my interview with Dr. Sanders, it was too dangerous to return to Tegucigalpa, so I spent the night in a convent. Straight out of the Sound of Music, with pine covered mountains and all. (Silencio, por favor)

The food at the convent was great too, kind of strange as I was the only one eating in a huge cafeteria - they gave me a ton of food!

Downtown Tegucigalpa

Close to where the military coup took place last year. Tegucigalpa has become considerably more dangerous in the past couple years. For example, buses are robbed on a daily basis. Being from the US and touristy doesnt help your chances!

Rich business men come to talk and get their shoes shined

The Beach!

Well, finally I have a great reason to update my blog. Last weekend we went to the beach, and it was super fun and relaxing, a great break from 6 day work weeks and less than 2 hours away! Here are a few pics:

The view from our hotel, "Hotelita Lupita." Gotta love the name!

So aparently we were the only fans of the beach - not going to complain

Fisherman bringing in the boats

How lucky am I, my host brother Mario likes football

(unfortunately he's a Packers fan)

I'm not quite sure what we're doing here - maybe

contemplating another swim?

The boats

The beach was too rocky for surfers, and a little dangerous to swim, but still a great time with the Perez family. I'm still wondering why PAC doesn't have a regional office out here...

Coffee anyone?

Recently my time has been spent developing and trying out the new system for gathering information from coffee producers for the database. I am working in Ocotal, an office of PAC near to the Honduran border. Here are some images to capture the last few weeks:

The bus ride between Granada and Ocotal is a total of about six hours.

Which leaves plenty of time for the already

struggling buses to break down!

Discussing the new plan to gather data with

managers and technicians.

Las Sabanas, a high (and cool) town, on of the most ideal places

to grow coffee in Nicaragua.

Interviewing a coffee farmer to try out the new system.

My church on the weekends back in Granada.

My 20 year old host brother, Mario, sharing in church. It's

great having a brother like him, we get along really

well and have great times hanging out!

The Project

So if you've been following my blog, you have probably been thinking, "Wow, Greg is having a great time vacationing while I'm freezing here in the US." While there might be a little truth to this, most of my time here is actually not spent climbing volcanoes and exploring jungles.

In fact, here in Nicaragua the official work week is 6 days a week, 8 hours a day without siestas (yes, I was definitely a little disappointed).

Anyways, as far as my work with PAC goes I feel both challenged and excited about the next several months. The project that PAC has asked me to do is a little complicated, but I will give it my best shot to explain. Basically, over the last several years PAC has collected information from farmers and small businesses (like acres, yields, prices received, etc.) However, there is no standard for gathering this information and it is kept in numerous formats on numorous computers in numerous different databases.

This information is extremely valuable for PAC because it can be analyzed to obtain what are called "indicators." These indicators can be used both for PAC as an organization and farmers or small businesses to make more informed decisions.

So my job is to create a stadard way to collect and analyze the information. It has been an interesting challenge, as I have had the chance to interview and work alongside farmers, technicians, managers, IT guys, and everyone in between, trying to figure out the best way to do this. It's cool because in many ways my education fits right into this project and I feel like I am contributing to PAC's overall mision. I am also of course learning a ton along the way, and if you happen to be an expert in this field, feel free to contact me!


Aside from work, I have had the chance to help out with sunday school at my church, kids ages 5 to 7. The kids are so much fun, always very happy and energetic!

Thoughts on poverty

But first I just have to say that one cool advantage of living in Nicaragua is that there are so many volcanoes, lakes, oceans, and jungles to explore. I am happy to be taking advantage of it whenever I get the chance. Check out Mombacho Volcano that some friends and I climbed over Christmas break:

At the beginning...

There was a coffee plantation halfway up with free samples, so good!

Check out the view from the top, Granada is in the background

The top of the volcano is a cloud forest


It was so green, with moss and ferns covering everything

What is poverty?

After living in Nicaragua for almost two months I am beginning to get a clearer sense of poverty and the different approachs used to fight it. Here are some thoughts on what poverty is from the book, When Helping Hurts, as well as from talking to people working in development organizations, and talking to the poor themselves:

• the lack of education
• money
• clean water
• food
• medication or access to any form of healthcare
• aduquate shelter

BUT, it's more than the physical, it is also

• powerlessness
• humiliation
• inferiority
• fear
• and depression

It can be caused by both personal choices as well as the system (government, economy, social, and religous) that surrounds the poor. It is interesting because people's view on the cause of poverty directly affects what they do about it. I feel honored to work for an organization that understands the complexity of poverty, recognizing that change requires long term work. I guess thats why they call it development! More thought on this later...

A waterfall that was in the backyard of a family that sometimes struggles to feed themselves.

And we raise hogs???

Not that I dislike pigs or anything, but why aren't we raising cacao? What would it be like to take pounds of chocolate to market every week? We could even make a river of chocolate! Although we would really miss the hog roasts, right Dad and Chris? And the sausage, bacon, and pork chops. Hmm, maybe we could do both.

PACs newest project over the last 3 years or so has been to increase the production of cacao in Nicaragua. The climate is ideal here, it's just that farmers lacked the knowledge and marketing skills. Cacao has very quickly become a great cash crop for 100s of poor farmers, with much hope to expand. Here are a few snapshots of the process...

PAC's agronomists breed the most productive type
of cacao tree to sell to producers.

Farmers bring in freshly harvested cacao.


It's weighed.


And the producer gets paid by the collector. This farmer receieves about $50 a week, a considerable
amount considering average income here is around $20 per week.
Of course he has a family to feed as well.


Finding out more about cacao from producers--there is
a definite excitement about cacao here!

Cacao in crates for the first 8 days of fermentation.


Then moved in a super hot green house to ferment another 8 days.
Wilmur, a cacao producer himself that collects cacao from 15
other local producers in order to ferment it, then resell it.


PAC takes pickup loads of cacao ready to be exported to their storehouses where
it is then sold to an exporter. This pickup load is about
1500 pounds, worth about $1500.
(In comparison, coffee at this stage would be worth about $900).