Linking PNG Organic Coffee Growers to the World Organic and Specialty Coffee Exporters - Papua New Guinea
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Located in the Pacific region just north of Australia, Papua New Guinea is an island of spectacular scenery and culture. Because of its tropical location and its diverse topography, Papua New Guinea is home to unique plant and animal species found no where else on Earth. In addition to this biodiversity, human cultural diversity is just as amazing and colorful.
Nestled in amongst all of this, in the mountains that run down the spine of the island, live many thousands of village farmers whose lifeblood is coffee growing.
Coffee is the number one cash crop in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Over 2 million people (40% of the country's total population) depend both directly and indirectly on money earned from coffee to purchase household pay children's school fees, provide clothing and medicines and take care of cultural obligations.
The concept of organic coffee was first introduced into PNG in 1991 and even today there are only three areas with organic coffee certification. On average over the past five years, 2000 tons of certified organic coffee have been exported annually from PNG, which is roughly 0.5% of PNG's total coffee production. This makes PNG organic coffee special for both consumers and producers.
Because these villagers live in such remote places, their coffee must be picked up by airplanes on grass landing strips, or for those lucky enough to have road access, it must be trucked to the nearest town. Unfortunately the roads are in terrible condition and even tractors can end up with broken axles from the trip. Coffee Connections has initiated a program of road improvements to help these growers get their coffee to market.
Accessing the Coffee Growers
Logistic challenges