Fourth Quarterly Report for Fiscal Year 2010: Responsible Sourcing Partnership Project

The project aims to promote participation of Micro and Small Enterprise Brazilian coffee producers, including small rural producers, in the global market. The RSP project has three working components: Component One, Expanding and improving the quality of supply; Component Two, Increasing producer capacity; and Component Three, Raising the marketing capacity of Brazilian coffee growers. With cash and in-kind contributions from all partners totaling over US$1.9 million, the RSP project provides technical training and investment in farm and cooperative infrastructure to benefit more than 5,700 smallholder farmers in Brazil. During the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2010, significant advances were made in the Brazilian specialty coffee sector. A new producer organization, Acafeg, with 25 members, was integrated into the project. All infrastructure grant projects were completed, and local project-trained agronomists conducted 19 training sessions on post-harvest handling, reaching 236 producer members. Additionally, 42 commercial directors and quality evaluation specialists from twelve producer groups participated in quality evaluation training, and four regional presentations introducing the principles, certification, and farm management techniques of organic coffee production were conducted. Business Management capacity training was conducted with three new producer groups, and three cooperatives finalized governance training programs. Finance committee members from eight producer groups received one half day of on-site finance committee training, and ten producer groups received on-site certification compliance visits. A video, "Buyer Be Fair" with Portuguese subtitles, was distributed to producer groups, and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters committed to purchasing from all Fair Trade Certified groups, building long-term buying relationships. The final quarter of the project will include the final phase of ongoing project trainings, including organic training, business administration training, and finance committee training. A new training will be introduced in Q1 FY11 to support the producer organizations in pricing their coffee for the external market. Final M&E and post-harvest adoption surveys will be analyzed in the final quarter for outcomes and impact. The Fair Trade Certified Cupping Competition and awards event will take place in November, serving as a final project event and drawing media attention to RSP project successes. The project's Annual Work Plan was revised to include previously excluded activities, such as organic training, price discovery, and market training, as well as a third Fair Trade Certified Cupping Competition and in-depth close-out evaluation activities. The additional activities are detailed in Section B, Results of the RSP project, of this report.