Although Sri Lanka is famous all over the world for its Ceylon tea, the first plantation crop under the British rule in Ceylon (the colonial name of Sri Lanka) was coffee. In the early years of British rule in the country, coffee was a very minor crop propagated by peasants. However, the coffee plantations were completely destroyed when a fungus spread in the hill country area. Cultivation of tea later took place to replace coffee, but several local varieties of coffee were preserved and are currently being propagated as a minor crop in the Kandyan Home Gardens.
The Kandyan Home Gardens are popular among environmentalists, agriculturists, and farmers in Sri Lanka as a sustainable, organic agricultural pattern because these gardens have everything even if in small scales. Majority of the work in the gardens are done by women. In the gardens, they cultivate cloves, pepper, spices, and coffee. Coffee provides them with a reasonable income when its price is high. But oftentimes, the farmers do not get a good price for their goods. As a result, many of them decided to cut down the coffee trees because they were not economically productive but they occupy lots of space in the gardens.
Women farmers bring Kandy coffee to life
Bandara Manike is a mother of three and a community leader in Polgolla, Kandy. She owns a small plot of land in the Kandyan Home Gardens where she cultivates multiple crops including coffee. In 2006, the Lanka Farmers’ Forum (LFF), the MTCP2 national implementing agency in Sri Lanka, met with her along with other farmers in their village. From the meetings, a farmer organization with 35 coffee farmers was formed, majority of which are women. This gave hope to the people in the community because for the first time, they were able to discuss their agriculture related problems collectively. Before the intervention of the LFF, the villagers acted individually. They collect whatever they can harvest from their gardens and sell these in small quantities even for a low price.
The group participated in various trainings. “We were invited to participate in other programs of the LFF. We felt very happy because we feel that we are a part of a big movement. We get to meet farmers from other areas. We learned lots of things including how to grow coffee the right way, how to prune, how to get the best out of the plants, how to dry them, and how to maintain the quality of the product, etc. We learned the strength and the beauty of collective action,” says Bandara Manike.
Now, as a group, if each of the farmers in their group are able to harvest two kilograms of coffee from their respective gardens, the harvest will total to 70 kilograms. They can then go to a wholesale trader and get a good price for their coffee.
The group also participated in discussions on ‘value adding’ for their produce. LFF took the group to NERD, a government sponsored institute in Colombo, where they were exposed to machineries they saw for the first time. The farmers realized all the things they can do with their produce if they have such machineries. Furthermore, the farmers were also taught to prepare business plans.
“We, ourselves, were surprised because we have come a long way from being simple women farmers and housewives. Now, we are doing our own business,” exclaims Bandara Manike.
The group decided to start their own coffee business. They collected all the coffee beans from their members and LFF helped them acquire a grinding machine, sealer, and other equipment. They started their small business under the name “Kandurata Products” (Kandurata meaning hill country).
During their opening day, they invited government officials and made them try their coffee products. The officials gave positive responses on their products and pledged to provide assistance to further their business. They also received positive responses from other people that tried their coffee saying that their coffee states good because it is organic. The group aims to make their coffee famous not just in Kandy, but in the entire country as well.
With guidance from LFF, the group opened a bank account where they will keep their earnings. The bankers were very happy to cater them and even suggested ideas for their business ventures.
Youth showing interest in agriculture
“My elder son who is studying Commerce became interested when he observed the developments in our farmer organization. Before, he did not even want to be involved in any of the agricultural work we do,” says Bandara Manike.
“Few days ago, we participated in a business promotion training program organized by LFF. My son was also there. At the end of the training, one of the resource persons asked my son, “What are you going to do in the future?” He answered, “I will probably be involved in my mother’s business and help them to further their it.”
Most of the people in Kandy are involved in agriculture as their main source of livelihood. However, they usually generate low income from selling their produce that is why many people in the village suffer from poverty. With knowledge on value adding and business planning, the farmers now have the capacity to add value on their produce which will help increase their income and consequently, improve their living standards. ###
About MTCP2
The Medium Term Cooperation Program Phase 2 (MTCP2), a five-year capacity building program supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the European Union (EU), has been implemented in 19 countries across three sub-regions—Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific—engaging 1,544 sub-national farmers organizations (FOs) with a total membership of around 22 million farmers.
The funding support (total budget of $ 5 million for the whole duration of the project across 19 countries) serves as a catalytic fund that will allow FOs to enhance their capacity to be effective channels of economic services to farmers.
So far, the program has contributed to the formation of strong national platform of FOs with improved capacity to engage in policy processes and mobilize resources from mainstream agricultural development programs like extension services, credit, and pre and post harvest facilities. The program also helped in transforming farmers associations into commodity-based cooperatives to strengthen the role of small-scale farmers within an inclusive and sustainable value-chain.
The program is being implemented by the consortium Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC).
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