Sainsbury's and Twin

This project is working to develop and bring two new African gourmet coffees to the UK. The project, led by Sainsburys involves a consortium with TWIN trading, Finlays, and two farmers’ cooperatives: Sopacdi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); and Mzuzu in Malawi.  The project is using the growth trends in UK consumer demand for differentiated, high quality coffees, to link production by identified organisations of smallholder farmers to this high value market. These groups are in two highly marginalised and impoverished areas, which both have a long history of arabica coffee production and the natural conditions required to produce high quality coffees. The projects involve an intensive process of supply chain development to ensure the products’ quality, traceability, and social and environmental credentials (including Fairtrade certification). Coffees are produced and delivered in a consistent and reliable manner, and that they are effectively manufactured, packaged and marketed so that consumer demand and loyalty is achieved and developed.  A special pack was launched during 'Fairtrade fortnight' in 2011 with a blend of coffees from the two sources and sold well in Sainsburys' outlets.

Sopacdi - The creation of this partnership has enabled 3,500 farmers in Eastern DRC to access international markets and secure a regular income for their families. Some of the key achievements of this partnership are:

• Sopacdi sold significantly higher volumes of green coffee to the European, North American and Japanese market in 2011.
• 36% of these volumes have been sold in the British mainstream market (at Sainsbury’s supermarkets).
• Sopacdi’s coffee has been supplied to seven different buyers based in the UK, Belgium, the United States and Japan.
• Sopacdi gained Fairtrade certification in June 2011 enabling the organisation to access additional market premiums.
• Sopacdi introduced an organic conversion programme with the goal of obtaining organic certification by summer 2012.
• Through a farmer training programme funded by the FRICH initiative, average coffee yields in Sopacdi have increased dramatically in two years from 300kg per ha to 900kg.
• Furthermore, Sopacdi currently pays farmers double the prices that it was able to offer before the project started.
• In 2011 Sopacdi’s coffee was part of a Limited Edition Red Nose Day product launched at 273 Sainsbury’s stores in the UK.
• Our work with Sopacdi has allowed us to identify other group of farmers in the Kivu region of DR Congo that have limited access to international markets and are eager to follow Sopacdi’s success.

Mzuzu – Working with 3,200 farmers in Malawi, there has been a focus on ensuring that the production system is productive and sustainable through on trials with a section of the Co-op, as well as work with the cooperative management on their quality control and marketing systems. Recently many farmers in the Cooperative who were not involved in the trials have begun to adopt the husbandry systems being tested. In 2010 a container of Fairtrade certified coffee was shipped to the UK and, after roasting, has been assessed as suitable for a range of Sainsburys blends.  This year several containers will be purchased by TWIN.