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Miguel Zamora of the International Coffee Organization reports on the Coffee Public-Private Task Force and its goal to establish a global partnership between the coffee industry and governments.
In 2018, when the last coffee price crisis began hitting farmers with the lowest prices seen in a decade, the International Coffee Organization (ICO) started a structured sector-wide dialogue with the international private sector and relevant coffee stakeholders to address profitability and overall sustainability of the coffee sector, especially for farming communities.
From this dialogue, the Coffee Public-Private Task Force was established to build common ground for a global partnership between the coffee industry and governments, with the idea to create a more sustainable and prosperous sector for farming communities around the world. Task Force members include government representatives from producing and consuming countries, as well as representatives from large coffee roasters and traders.
The Task Force is arguably one of the most important spaces for dialogue and action in coffee because it brings together the largest public and private actors. Members meet quarterly, and every year before the International Coffee Council’s session where representatives from the 75 member countries of the ICO gather for their annual in-person meeting. The Task Force hosts the CEO & Global Leaders Forum.
During the Forum, the Task Force welcomes leaders of companies, governments, and civil society organisations to discuss the most pressing sustainability issues affecting coffee and how companies and governments can work together to tackle these issues.
Ambitious goals for the sector
The Task Force works to create farmer prosperity, support market transparency, and build resilience and value at origin. More practically, it supports producing countries to understand and close the living income gap in coffee regions, promotes enabling policies for the sustainable growth of the sector, and supports countries to adapt to climate change.
The Task Force has a roadmap with ambitious goals for the coffee sector. For example, by 2030, half of the producing country members of the ICO would be implementing initiatives to close the living income gap and working towards farmer prosperity. This means at least 21 producing countries would have a national coffee plan that includes a living and prosperous income strategy; a strategic process built with the local government, national coffee industry, farmer organisations, and civil society.
A goal this ambitious requires the whole sector to mobilise to ensure farmers and their families have access to an income that allows them to afford a decent standard of living, including access to a nutritious diet, potable water, decent housing, education, health care, and other essential needs including provision for unexpected events. Moreover, a living income should be only a first step towards prosperity, since farmers, like everybody else participating in the coffee value chain, deserve the opportunity to thrive from coffee.
To achieve this, the Task Force has implemented years-long processes in different countries to build a robust and proven methodology that can be adapted and replicated in other countries. Living income benchmark and cost of production studies with robust methodologies have been conducted by researchers of local coffee institutes in producing countries, with input and feedback from producer organisations, companies, and other stakeholders. These processes have built awareness about living and prosperous income and have created the space to discuss solutions that work in each country, according to its own reality. From Mexico to Rwanda, this work has helped local governments to understand the living income gaps in coffee regions and build national strategies to close them.
Beyond living and prosperous income, the recent rise of regulations in consuming countries presents new challenges to producing countries. The Task Force presents an important opportunity for many producing countries to find answers for technical questions related to regulations such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), discuss technical approaches to support farmers to get ready for regulations, and bring producing countries’ concerns and opportunities together to inform the ICO on how to better support the sector as it navigates the rise of new regulations.
In the past year, the Task Force work-stream on policies in consuming countries has met monthly to discuss updates related to the EUDR and deliver presentations from technical assistance providers trying to support companies, farmer organisations, and local governments as they navigate the implementation of the EUDR, as well as trying to educate relevant competent authorities in charge of overseeing the EUDR implementation about the global coffee value chain.
A unique approach
The Task Force, as the ICO, relies on consensus. The underrated and time-consuming approach that depends on discussion to bring diverse perspectives into a shared agreement ends up being stronger and more powerful than any individual idea or proposal. This consensus approach is stronger because it is the result of finding common ground between the most important coffee companies and producing countries.
What makes the Task Force unique is the dialogue and agreement between companies and governments of producing and consuming countries. As Task Force members report, only with a true and effective partnership between companies and governments can the sector tackle the major challenges that farming communities face. Although working on supply chain specific projects is still important, in order to have a chance to address the effect of climate change on farming communities or support farmers towards prosperity, initiatives that include the local government with support from coffee companies need to be in place. Only when the public and private sectors work together is there a real chance to tackle these challenges.
The road ahead
The goals set in the Task Force are goals for the entire coffee sector. Achieving these aims require the participation of many stakeholders, globally and locally. That’s why in each country the government builds partnerships with local companies and stakeholders to create strategies that work for the reality of each country. For example, in Mexico, the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development has led the process to bring farmer organisations, companies, and civil society organisations together to create a plan to significantly reduce the living income gap in coffee regions. This process was built based on the evidence from the studies supported by the Task Force and will continue with the support from the Task Force for future implementation of the plans.
In 2025, the Task Force will focus on supporting the building and implementation of the national coffee plans, which include strategies to close the living income and help farmers work towards prosperity, similar to the case of Mexico. These processes will be documented and further tools and training materials will be developed to support other member states in their own processes.
Additionally, as the EUDR has become a priority for European companies and most coffee producing countries, the Task Force will continue to support the sector in finding answers for the remaining challenges and technical questions the coffee industry face, as well as continuing to support member states to prepare for any future regulations. Meetings and presentations are open to coffee stakeholders interested in learning the latest developments related to policies and regulations such as the EUDR.
All the studies and reports created by the Task Force are available to the sector in ICO’s Global Knowledge Hub, an online space created to support Member States and coffee stakeholders when tackling key sustainability topics.
The ICO Coffee Public-Private Task Force represents one of the best opportunities to address the most important challenges affecting the coffee sector at large. Companies are welcome to join these efforts to build a truly sustainable coffee sector.
Miguel Zamora is the Coffee Public-Private Task Force Coordinator at ICO. For more information on the Task Force, visit ico.org
This article was first published in the January/February 2025 edition of Global Coffee Report. Read more HERE.
The post Introducing the Coffee Public-Private Task Force appeared first on Global Coffee Report.
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