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August update

This summer concluded the third year of our 20/20 Project in Nepal. The project delivered over 4000 coffee plants to local farmers with more planned in the coming months. 1500 shade trees were also cultivated and distributed. 194 farmers received refresher training on coffee growing skills and all 360 farmers were visited throughout the year to check on their coffee plants and to answer any questions they may have about coffee growing. The nine farmer's groups continued to meet through the year and the coffee cooperative acquired more members. As farmers received their new plants this year, they met the minimum quota of 50 plants in order to join the cooperative. 

[A farmers coffee plant with fruits growing after being pollinated, in the comings months they will ripen and turn red]

 The model farm was planted with another 1000 coffee plants (on top of the 1600 trees already established) and is still being maintained by the women of the Kopila Safe House. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we lost a significant number of coffee saplings to unseasonal weather. The high heat followed by a lack of rain had a devastating effect on many crops in Nepal this summer. Farmers from across Nepal have reported losses of some of their coffee plants. The combination of heat stress and lack of water is brought on by climate change. Our coffee is planted in combination with shade trees, however, before the trees reach maturity (around five years), they can still be vulnerable to these types of extreme weather shocks. We have tried to mitigate these issues, but this year was a steep learning curve for the project. On the model farm, we have increased the water storage capacity by purchasing new and bigger water tanks to allow us to store more water during the rainy season. This will help keep the plants going in the tough times. However, the shade trees will be doing most of the work in a few years. 

[Women from the safe house cultivating the model farm for new coffee saplings]

[The social mobilizer on a field visit to one of the farmer's homes. Here she is recording the coffee tree information for this farm]

In the coming months, the coffee processing infrastructure will be put in place, ready for the harvest in February 2020. The training of harvesting and processing techniques will take the focus in the farmer groups and training sessions for the next few months. 

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May 2019

Next month will mark the end of the third year of this project. We will be doing our annual assessment in the coming weeks and will publish our yearly report for 2019. 

(our community mobiliser visiting farmers who are part of the training programme - last month our community worker visited 85 of farmers involved in the project to see first hand how their coffee plants were growing.

This month our farmers completed a two-day course on Coffee plant management. This was run in coordination with the local government and the course was delivered by the chairperson of the district coffee association. 

(Farmers on their two-day training course)

The seedlings in the nursery are being prepared for distribution next month. As June signals the coming of the rainy season, it is the perfect time to transplant the coffee seedlings. We estimate that we will be distributing over 8000 seedlings in the coming weeks to farmers in the local area. 

Work on the model farm continues as the women from the safe house manage the nursery and the farm under supervision from our coffee consultant. 

Next month:

Visit 50 farmers 

Weeding and mulching of the model coffee farm

Replace coffee plants that have died in the last year on the model coffee farm (150)

Distribution of coffee nursery plants

The organisation of 8 coffee production committee meetings

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February Update 2019

This month is harvest time in Nepal. The cherries are continuing to ripen, the farmers are hard at working picking, processing, and drying. Nearly 100% of the coffee processed in Nepal is wet processed, and the majority of which is done at a micro level. 

The 20/20 Project is working with a broad range of farmers. Some have had a few coffee plants for a number of years and some have only started to grow coffee more recently with the introduction of The 20/20 Project. This is an important time for a lot of the farmers as they are learning to harvest and process their coffee for the first time. Next year will be the main ‘first’ harvest for The 20/20 Project, but some of the coffee trees will produce a small, first harvest this year. The farmers learning groups have taken several field trips over the past few weeks to visit more established farms in the area in order to learn how to harvest their own coffee. 

(farmers receive practical onsite training and advice from our coffee expert)

The executive group from our coffee cooperative met this month to discuss expansion and the installation of the coffee processing equipment on the model farm which will begin this year 

(Coffee executive committee of the coffee cooperative meets) 

Key Achievements: Jan 2019.

Two Days (3 training groups) on Coffee Harvest Management was organized with a total of 102 participants.

Monitoring visitS to 119 coffee farmer’s house.

Weeding and Mulching of 376 Coffee Plants and Irrigation of 606 Coffee Plants.

Organizing 6 Coffee Production Committee Meeting.

Our community social mobilizer continues to meet new farmers interested in attending new training. 

Plan for next month: Feb 2019

Monitoring visit to 120 coffee farmer’s house.

Weeding, Mulching and Irrigation of 2000 Coffee Plants.

Organizing 1 coffee cooperative meeting

Organizing 8 Coffee Production Committee Meeting.

Cultivation of plant prepared in the new expanded Nursery.

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2019

(Coffee trees on the model farm weeded. Trees are establishing well in their new homes)

In the last year, there have been a number of important milestones in the project. Namely, the model farm was planted and the coffee nursery was expanded. The training of local farmers has continued and the farmer groups and cooperatives have been established. We are looking forward to the coming year with great anticipation.

In the coming year, we will see the establishment of the coffee processing station. This will be up and running for the harvest in 2020. There will, of course, be a small harvest this year for some of the farmers and this will be celebrated in February when the season begins. Coffee trees normally take 3-5 years to reach maturity. As we bought a couple of thousand trees in the first year for distribution, some of the farmers will be enjoying the fruits of their labour. 

The 20/20 Project had planned to visit in November 2018, but unfortunately, due to logistics, this did not work out. We are now planning a visit in February, which will coincide with the harvest season. 

We are looking forward to the year ahead and will continue to update you on our progress. Please see some of our achievements in December, below-

(Training for some of our farmer group leaders on a retreat. They are learning some key leadership skills to help manage and facilitate their local farming groups)

Key activities for December 2018

2 Days of Refresher training on Coffee Management Cycle was organized with a total of 60 participants.

Leadership retreat and workshop for farmer groups

Monitoring visits to 130 coffee farmer’s houses.

Weeding and Mulching of 400 Coffee Plants.

Organizing 5 Coffee Production Committee Meeting.

Continued councilling and mental health education to the women in the safe home who maintain the coffee nursery and model farm. 

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October 2018 Update The 2020 Project

In the last month, our 8 farmers groups met, general maintenance work was carried out on the model farm and our community worker visited 26 families in their homes to inspect their coffee plants and to offer them advice.

Our farmer groups are a great way to encourage and share knowledge amongst local farmers. The groups meet monthly and can have 10 - 50 farmers at any one meeting. They are a great place to learn more about growing coffee. Some of the farmers have been growing coffee for a number of years and some have only started with The 2020 Project in 2016. These meetings are hosted by The 2020 Project and allow farmers to come together to discuss some of the issues or successes they have had in recent weeks.

This style of meetings is a great way to build community and share knowledge. For some of the newer farmers, it can be hard facing some of the issues that coffee plants bring. The more experienced farmers can encourage the newer farmers to keep going and to offer them advice that has worked for them. Every couple of meetings our local coffee expert visits the groups to discuss a new topic or answer some of the trickier questions. Our expert also focuses on seasonal activities that farmers should be practising such as pruning or creating organic compost. We currently have nine farmers groups that meet monthly in different areas of the community. These meetings are organised by our project manager and facilitated by our community worker who encourages the farmers to come along.

One of the nine farmer groups meeting

Our community worker is in charge of getting out and meeting the families involved in The 2020 Project. Each month she visits a number of families to see how they are getting on. This month she met with 26 families and monitored how their coffee plants were doing. She is able to answer some of the coffee questions they have but her main role is to encourage them to attend the organised training, join a farmers group, and when they are ready (i.e have 50 coffee plants) join the coffee cooperative. Farmers who are new to coffee often find it hard to stay focused on caring for their trees. Most of the farmers are switching from growing seasonal crops such as rice and grains. It can be hard for them to set time aside to weed and care for their coffee trees in the first few years when there is no yield. Our community worker visits and encourages them to look after their young coffee trees. She can also identify if there are any major problems. This role is really important as it creates a rigorous monitoring and evaluation for our programme and allows us to see how the project is progressing.

This is a visit to the model farm after a farmers group meeting where they can see some of the discussed practises.

Our model farm planted hundreds of coffee plants in June and July as the rainy season began. The plants are doing well but so too are the weeds. The women in the safe home on the model coffee farm carry out the maintenance of the coffee nursery and farm. This last week was spent weeding hundreds of coffee plants on site. Once weeded, the women lay the dead weeds on top of the soil around the coffee plants as a mulch (much like we do in our gardens in Ireland). They do this because the leading research shows that this slows the drying out of the soil in the sun and it also stops soil runoff when it rains. As the weeds breakdown, they return the nutrients to the coffee plants. This is one of the methods on our model farm that helps demonstrate to farmers who come for training what the ‘best practices’ are.

Our coffee expert highlighting the benefits of replacing the weeds as a mulch

Some of the Dublin staff will be visiting the project in November so stay tuned for those updates.

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Nepal May 2018 Update

This last month has seen a lot of monitoring and evaluation of our project in Nepal. Our field staff have been busy visiting farmers who have been trained over the last two years to check on their progress. The farmer training has continued with 34 new farmers being trained in the coffee cycle management and the model farm coffee nursery expansion has progressed.

Farmers meet to discuss some of the challenges of growing coffee and to learn from each other's experiences. 

Last year The 20/20 Project distributed 10,000 coffee plants and shade trees to local farmers who had been trained in climate-smart coffee growing. One of the indicators of success is to see how these farmers are getting on one year later and of course, how their coffee trees are doing. Our field staff visited 155 farmers who received training to check on the progress of their coffee crops. 

The staff were very happy to see that in nearly all cases the trees were growing well and the farmers had taken the training on board. In some cases, our agricultural advisor was able to help the farmers with some practical pest issues and nutrient deficiencies. These follow up visits are crucial to the success of the project but are also take a lot of time. The terrain in this remote area can be tricky to negotiate, especially when it rains! The farmers get a renewed motivation when someone is on site to give them the practical advice they need. 

The 20/20 Project established 9 coffee farmer groups last year. These groups are essential for the farmers to learn from each other and share their experiences. The groups also help articulate the collective challenges to our field staff so that plans can be put in place to mitigate against any potential issues. 

The farmer groups meet regularly to discuss the different seasonal work which needs to be carried out. The farmers can share their resources and can prepare in good time for some of the upcoming seasonal challenges. These group meetings are also great forums to talk about current market prices for coffee, and how the groups will market and sell their coffee in the future. The groups have received leadership training which has helped them establish committees and inclusive structures within the groups.

This farmer group is discussing some of the best approaches to preparing the land for new coffee plants. Our social mobiliser is giving a recap on some of the techniques they learnt last year. 

These farmer groups give the farmers more power when selling their coffee to the government exchange or private buyers. The chairperson, Guradatta Dahal met with our field staff to discuss the challenges that some of the farmers are facing. As the coffee tree does not produce a crop until the plant is at least three years old, Gurdatta expressed his concern that some of the farmers are neglecting some of their plants in favour of current crops. In this area of Nepal, it is common for farmers to grow one or two coffee plants. These plants are often neglected and therefore do not produce a good crop. This then increases the likelihood that the farmers will not put aside more land to grow more coffee, despite the higher market prices and lower water needs than some of their current crops. Gurdatta has seen the positive impact of the field visits to the farmers and has asked The 20/20 Project to increase their visits to help encourage and motivate the farmers. We have already seen the positive impact this is having with farmers taking positive steps to work on their coffee trees and to also prepare new land for more plants in June when the rains will come. 

It is encouraging to have both the positive feedback from the farmer groups and to get out and see the farmers growing and tending to their coffee plants. 

Two women from the safe house have started a tomato nursery on the model farm. The women in the safe house tend to the coffee nursery and are preparing the 2.5 acre plot for the coffee plants to be planted out in June. The organic vegetables they grow reduce the overhead costs of the safe house and the excess vegetables are sold at the local market. 

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New Project Partners

We are excited to announce our latest 20/20 Project partners - Seven Wonders. 

We are delighted to have them on board and look forward to us partnering together to create sustainable coffee communities in Nepal and Ethiopia. We will be interviewing them in the coming weeks about why they got involved with The 20/20 Project and what they are up to at the moment! 

Watch this space! 

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The 20/20 Project Update: February 2018

Over the last month, the farmer training has continued. The coffee nursery is progressing and the model farm plot is being prepared for planting. The farmers are receiving new training on harvesting techniques as well as a refresher course on what they learned last year. The focus of training at the moment is to select coffee seeds from their best plants to create their own coffee nurseries to expand their production.

It is now harvest season in Nepal. The farmers who already have coffee trees on their farms are learning the best practice techniques in harvesting and post-harvest care. This year will see the setup of the processing centre on the model farm meaning that next year the farmers will be able to bring their coffee here.

The next few months will see the expansion of the coffee nursery along with the preparation of the model farm for planting. The 2.5 acre plot has been cleared and will be planted in the rainy season in June. 

(this group of farmers is discussing the best qualities in selecting seeds for setting up their own household seed nurseries)

(Binod, a farmer in The 20/20 Project training programme shows the fruits of his labour)

(Narayani has pruned back an older coffee tree to rejuvenate it. These are some of the technical skills being taught. Heavy pruning can increase the harvest for many years to come. After the pruning Narayani has cleared some of the soil and started to top dress it with compost she has made on her farm)

The coffee nursery full of thousands of seedlings. They are all cared for by the ‘safe house programme’. The safe house provides refuge for women suffering from domestic abuse. The eight women in this safe house are employed to maintain and manage the coffee nursery and model farm.

See the stories of two of our participants in The 20/20 Project’s climate-smart coffee training programme

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Simple Simon’s Loyalty Card Programme

We caught up with Angela from Simple Simon Healthfoods about their new loyalty card programme which is raising money for our coffee project in Nepal.

Angela:

“We officially launched our Mc Cabes 20/20 loyalty card scheme at the beginning of September and it has been received really well. The card was designed by Mc Cabes but we have our own logo incorporated on the card and we have our own dandelion stamp which we use to count up the coffees! We have a LOT of extremely loyal customers who are huge coffee drinkers so we imagine it won't be long before we get our wall filled up. We are delighted that people are open to donating their cards for a cause greater than just a free cup of coffee... 

We will keep you posted on how they are getting on! 

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New 20/20 Staff

We are delighted to announce that we have a new cafe advisor starting in The 20/20 Project. Mark, will be coming on board in a part-time capacity starting in October. He is studying Maths and Economics in Trinity College. He loves nothing better than a good flat white and can be often found in Dublin's many coffee shops searching for the very best brew. Mark's interest in The 20/20 Project came from learning about the coffee value chain, where the coffee farmers who work so hard, receive only a tiny percentage of the rewards. Mark is excited to search for partners for The 20/20 Project who care as much about top quality coffee and empowering coffee producers as he does. When he is not studying or chilling out in a cafe, Mark is likely to be out in his canoe at Salmon Leap Canoe Club where he trains nearly every day. 

Mark will be working with The 20/20 Project to seek out and build new partnerships with cafes and roasters in Ireland. Keep an eye out for him around Dublin in the coming months! 

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Great work by @simplesimonshealthfoods and @jdespresso_mcabescoffee. Make sure to drop in and support them! #the2020project #coffee #loyaltycard #mccabescoffee #coffeegram #climatesmartcoffee #coffeefarmers (at Simple Simons Healthfoods Donegal Town)

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A year in review this week! #2020project #coffee #coffeegram #originproject #coffeeorigin #nepal #climatesmartcoffee (at The 20/20 Project)

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The 20/20 July Update

This month was an exciting time in Nepal for our farmers. Our partners in Nepal distributed 10,000 coffee saplings to the farmers who have completed the Climate Smart Coffee Training in the last 12 months.

(farmers who have received their coffee saplings holding the sponsor logos)

The rainy season is in full swing in Nepal and with it, ushers in the time for planting. The coffee saplings have been growing in the nursery for the past 12 months, cared for by the women involved with the safe house programme. 

Although the rain brings in nourishment to the land, it also causes huge issues to transportation in the rural areas. The team struggled to distribute all of the coffee seedlings due to a number of small land slides, but eventually have managed to get them to all of the farmers. 

(some of the women receiving their coffee saplings at a distribution point)

The land preparation has been monitored by our team on the ground and the farmers were tasked with digging pits and clearing space for the coffee saplings in April and May to be ready for the planting and the rains in June and July. It is important to see this process and inspect it to see that the training has taken root with the farmers.

Alongside the training in practical coffee plant management, nine farmer groups have been formed. These groups allow the farmers to meet and exchange knowledge and information about what they have learned in the training or experienced by growing coffee. It is an opportunity for the farmers to learn from each other and build relationships within their community. It is a similar model that Teagasc uses here in Ireland successfully to work with their farmers. 

As part of the project activities, 30 lead farmers have been selected as people who exhibit an existing knowledge or have shown a passion for coffee. These farmers have received extra training, have been brought on field trips to visit more experienced and advanced farmers in the area to learn from them. These farmers have formed the first coffee cooperative in this area. The cooperative requires that each farmer has a minimum of 50 coffee plants and pay a small entrance fee. The 20/20 Project has helped to form this cooperative and has run workshops on leadership to help the new cooperative establish a strong foundation. As the farmers in the area plant the newly distributed coffee saplings from our nursery, they will soon be able to join the cooperative. 

The cooperative allows these farmers to process and sell their coffee collectively, therefore, achieving a higher price. If they were to sell their coffee individually the price is dictated to them by people visiting their farms and buying the coffee. This is one of the biggest issues in smallholder coffee farming globally - that farmers are ‘price takers’. Farmers have no option but to sell to these people as they can’t access other markets or buyers. However, the cooperative model allows them to negotiate a higher price for their collective harvest. This also allows them to build relationships with buyers and also shop around for the best price. 

Growing coffee is only the first step in alleviating poverty for these farmers. There are many different facets of the value chain which still need to be addressed, but they have started their journey now as they receive their coffee saplings and plant them.

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Marco and The 20/20 Project have partnered since the beginning of our Nepal Project. Marco will now make a donation from every MIX boiler sold.  

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https://vimeo.com/221558202 check out our latest partner story. Paul Stack from Marco describes our new partnership with their new @ie.marco MIX Boiler. Link above or in bio! #specialtycoffee #coffee #budapestcoffee #wocbudapest2017 #the2020project #marcomix (at Hungexpo - Programod van)

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If you are at World of Coffee then Check out @ie.marco and find out more about our new partnership project with their MIX Boiler. #marcomix #the2020project #wocbudapest2017 #budapestcoffee #coffee #specialtycoffee (at Hungexpo - Programod van)

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A great day at #recosymposium2017. Some really great speakers. From blockchain to CT scans in a fantastic setting! Loads to think about. #wocbudapest2017 #the2020project #climatesmartcoffee #budapest (at Budapest, Hungary)