The world market for coffee has been problematic for years. Production
surpluses, low prices, and exposure to international capital markets
and IMF policies; these and other characteristics of the coffee market
have led to an extremely insecure financial future for small farmers in
particular. But the coffee sector has also witnessed an increase in
initiatives to ameliorate the position of small farmers and the labour
and environmental conditions on the coffee plantations which produce
for large multinational companies.
SOMO has kept an eye on the developments in the coffee market for years
and has been involved with the formulation and implementation of
initiatives in the area of ‘fair coffee’ and corporate social
responsibility in the coffee sector. A recent SOMO report (Coffee &
Codes, October 2003) examines the different codes of conduct which
exist in the coffee sector.
News Coffee
21-05-2010
Alongside carrying out research, SOMO regularly gives training and advice to social organisations in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), in the context of building capacity and spreading knowledge. In March, SOMO gave a training to Chinese social organisations in order to deploy CSR effectively in the promotion of sustainable agriculture in sectors such as tea. Furthermore, SOMO issued advice to the research of a coalition of consumer organisations. This advice was targeted at their research methodology for a study into the effects of spending at European supermarkets for food suppliers in developing countries.
