Coffee is the drink that are most commonly eaten on an everyday basis in the world. Looking at per day consumption, it is surprisingly about 70 hundred million cup of coffee. Coffee industry has highly developed and its business scale is the second next to oil all over the world. Persons of various generations have been paying money for tasty coffee from ancient times. However, in spite of developing coffee industry, many coffee farms in Africa fall into poverty and lose their job. Why occur like this situation? I think that developed country should not only help developing country with financial support, but also support their independences. I will explain the reason of coffee farm’s poverty and the resolution of this problem.
First, an amount of money which is paid to coffee farms is very low. Six trades are conducted in the process of transporting coffee beans from producer to consumer. For example, producers, processors, foreign buyers, roasting manufactures, café, and consumers. We will hypothesize that a cup of coffee is 330 yen, the percentage of the amount dividing to producers is only 1 to 3 percent, so it is 3 to 9 yen. Moreover 1 kilogram coffee beans are about 40 yen, and producer’s wage of working for eight hours is only 0.5 dollars. The area which coffee beans producers live in doesn’t have water supply, clinics, and electricity. There are elementary school, but teachers are shortage, so education is not enough. The low wage of coffee farms leads to their poverty. Therefore, it is important to support coffee farms for them in order to earn their dairy bread.
Second, there are unfair trades for African countries in coffee industries. New York and London decide forward coffee price and business transactions are done based on this market price. However the yield of a coffee in Brazil control the market price. Brazil produce one third coffee beans in the world. That is, an abundant harvest in Brazil make the market price go down and a poor crop in Brazil leads to rise in price. African coffee producers are very affected by Brazil’s market price in the far distance. The resolution of this problem is “fair trade”. Fair trade is transaction system on the purpose of stable prices. This trading system puts stress on that coffee producers are able to live stable their selves. It is important that African coffee producers make tasty coffee and earn enough money to support their family.
In conclusion, coffee producer’s wage is very low, and unfair transaction is done, so we should support their independence, for example, buying fair trade item. Fair trade system leads to improve lifestyles of producers and workers who are in a weak position. Fair trade item is high price a little, so it may be difficult for us to buy this item with willingness. However, it is very important to have a consciousness of the process of making coffee. This awareness is a good peg to think about developing countries. Moreover, if export share of Africa increase by 1 percent, they can create 700 billion dollars. Therefore I think that developed country should not only help developing country with financial support, but also support their independences.