The HOPE Project

The Hope Project aims to give hope to coffee farmers who have seen their income plummet  as a result of falling coffee prices. It has set up 23 coffee washing and drying stations (pulperies) in the Ileje, Rungwe, Mbeya Rural and Mbozi districts of Mbeya Region, Tanzania.

Mbeya region is home to some of the finest arabicas of East Africa.  However processing has always been a problem.

Until now, all smallholder coffee in Mbeya has been purchased as parchment and then processed at home by the farmers.

Many of these farmers lack the water or processing equipment to bring out the best in their coffee.

The Hope Project has dealt with this by putting the washing stations in the heart of the coffee growing areas.  Where water is abundant, traditional disk pulpers have been installed.  Where it is scarce, ecopulpers which need less water are used and boreholes are drilled to increase the water supply.

The Hope Project is run on a commercial basis by Lima Ltd, sister company of Biolands International, the largest exporter of organic cocoa in Africa.

The Project will ensure that farmers benefit from the quality premiums achieved by:

   Paying a price for their cherry which is proportionally higher than the market price for parchment coffee

   Making a second, quality-related payment to farmers after sale of the coffee

The Hope Project has also registered 4,000 farmers as organic producers.  Certification by IMO was achieved in September 2004.  The coffee is also certified by OCIA of the US and JAS of Japan.  The first 50 tonnes of certified organic coffee was shipped to Japan in May 2005.

The Hope Project places great importance on the traceability of its coffee.  Each lot will come with a certificate giving details of the village or villages of origin. 

Lima intends to achieve ISO9001 certification for all of its operations, including the Hope Project, by the end of 2006.

 

Hope Project Production

   2004/5 season – 480 tonnes of which 50 tonnes is organic

   2005/6 season - 858 tonnes of which 179 tonnes is organic

   2006/7 season (Expected)- 1200 tonnes of which 250 tonnes is organic

Back to HOME