Taylors Coffee

The project’s aims are to improve the income and livelihoods of over 14,000 smallholder coffee farmers in Rwanda and Uganda whilst guaranteeing future sources of high quality, sustainably certified, East African arabica coffees to meet the growing demands of the Taylors of Harrogate coffee brand. Furthermore, climate change adaptation, sustainable yield improvements, environmental management (with particular reference to water stewardship) and the investigation of a transparent pricing mechanism will all fall within the scope of the project objectives.

Uganda currently produces Rainforest Alliance certified coffees which are suitable for Taylors’ purposes; however the quality is very inconsistent making forward commitment to producers commercially unrealistic. This project would seek to address this issue with the implementation of a quality development program and a range of green coffee processing improvements. Rwanda, on the other hand, does not currently contain any Rainforest Alliance certified coffee producers and the project would look to implement training on the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) Standard whilst supporting farmers through the audit and certification process. The practices required under the SAN standard would address specific concerns regarding the management of wastewater, resulting in the improvement of local watercourses and ultimately the water quality in Lake Kivu.
 
In Uganda, this project will introduce new components to well established farmer training methods, by incorporating sustainable yield as well as climate-smart agriculture aspects. The project will produce a smallholder implementation guide with new components designed to encourage farmers to improve the productivity of their farms through improved plant husbandry, and their ability to adapt to climate change. Training will be provided on the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) climate module, enabling the farms to become the first “climate-friendly” smallholder coffee farmers in Africa, and be well positioned in a market that is increasingly concerned about the impacts of climate change on supply chains, and producers’ ability to sustain production into the future.