Coffee

In sub-Saharan Africa, TechnoServe is working to create new industries and incomes from products typically discarded as waste during cashew and coffee processing.

With much of the world under lockdown to reduce the spread of COVID-19, many people are changing the way they consume coffee — with significant implications for the entire coffee industry. We talked to Paul Stewart, TechnoServe’s global coffee director, to find out how the pandemic has impacted the coffee supply chain and what TechnoServe is doing to help.

In this series, we check back with TechnoServe program participants who were previously featured on our blog, documenting how their lives have changed and progressed.

In 2012, Lubaba Mekonnen, a single parent of two, joined a TechnoServe program that was working with coffee farmers in her community. At the time, she had no regular source of income and was struggling to support her family. Today, her income has increased by 200%, her coffee farm is flourishing, and her son is getting ready to attend university next year.

Surviving time in a refugee camp, but then losing her husband to malaria, Athanasie and her family returned to Rwanda to farm coffee. As a single parent, she was worried about how she would survive. With the training she received from TechnoServe, Athanasie worked hard to create a healthy and prosperous future for her family – one coffee tree at a time.

The National Coffee Association recently named TechnoServe the “Origin Charity of the Year” for our work supporting smallholder coffee farmers around the world.

From boosting agriculture through tech to reducing youth unemployment in India, TechnoServe President and CEO Will Warshauer discusses what he is most excited about in the coming year.

The ESCOBCAFE school teaches the sons and daughters of coffee growers how to become coffee cuppers, a step up in an important industry.

TechnoServe staff are going beyond their usual program work to support coffee communities in southern Puerto Rico after a recent series of earthquakes.

A few years ago, Reyna Oristela García was struggling to make a living from growing coffee. Today, her coffee farm is flourishing and her family is reaping the benefits.