This week sees the official release of A Snapshot from the Field: Five countries over five years by the 4C Association.
Since becoming operational in 2007, the 4C Association has made significant progress in mobilizing the entire coffee supply chain to improve the economic, social and environmental conditions of coffee production and processing.
The publication offers an insight into the contribution the 4C Association and its committed members along the supply chain have made towards building a sustainable coffee sector for generations to come.
Zooming in on five major coffee producing countries – Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, and Vietnam – the report aims to provide an overview of the achievements and some of the challenges faced by verified producer groups – 4C Units – on their journey to sustainability.
Special attention is paid to the performance of 4C Units against the 4C Code of Conduct, their ability to step up to more demanding sustainability standards, their improvements over the 3 year verification cycle, the structure of value chains that 4C Units are embedded in and the number of training opportunities that were facilitated at the 4C Unit level.
Melanie Rutten-Sülz, Executive Director of the 4C Association, highlights an important outcome of the entry-level standard: “the facilitation of collaboration between different groups of stakeholders is phenomenal.
We are seeing that many stakeholders, who are higher up in the value chain and traditionally did not directly interact with farmers, have started to make firm investments into the advancement of a sustainable coffee supply chain”.
Organised into over 270 4C Units, more than 360,000 coffee farmers and 1.3 million workers in 23 countries work together to implement the 4C Code of Conduct. Compliance with the 4C Code of Conduct includes continuous improvement in 28 social, environmental and economic criteria.
With this, coffee farmers gain better access to the growing market for sustainably produced coffee and are also in a better position to achieve more demanding certifications such as Rainforest Alliance, Utz Certified or Fairtrade International.
The 4C Entry-level standard is not only impacting on coffee farmers but also right up the supply chain to final buyers.
According to Mondelēz International’s Director External Affairs for Europe, Francesco Tramontin, “like other major roasters, Mondelēz International is stepping up investment in farming communities.
The 4C Standard represents a unique tool for us to start the journey, reach scale and build meaningful links with farmers.
The 4C Association provides a unique visibility on challenges and opportunities throughout our coffee supply chains. It’s important to see encouraging data from the field that shows meaningful impact and specific areas where more attention is needed”.
A key finding from the study is the considerable percentage of 4C Units across all five countries whose first step on their sustainability journey was through the 4C Association.
With approximately 30% of these groups having managed to step up and achieve more demanding certification with other sustainability standards, the report confirms the need for an entry-level sustainability standard and the 4C Association’s function as a stepping stone.
As the title suggests, this publication is a snapshot of a more comprehensive report that will be released by the 4C Association later this year.
The larger report will dive deeper into the issues this snapshot touches upon. Its objective is to analyze the progress of Brazilian, Colombian, Indonesian, Kenyan and Vietnamese 4C Units in line with the 4C Entry-level standard.
Starting out with a comprehensive analysis of the national coffee industries, the report will further evaluate the presence, progression, and performance of 4C Units against the 4C Code of Conduct as well as the specific challenges they face when it comes to compliance with the 4C Code of Conduct and if there are any country specific circumstances that may assist the performance of their 4C Units.
What the report makes clear is the impact the 4C Association has and will continue to have in bringing together the entire coffee supply chain in order to build a sustainable coffee sector.
To view A Snapshot from the Field: Five countries over five years, please click here (pdf file).
