Papua New Guinea and Coffee

Contrary to what is often assumed, Papua New Guinea’s coffee industry is not based upon large, corporately-owned plantations, but on tens of thousands of small, village coffee gardens. Typically, they range in size from 20 trees to 500 or 600. These family-owned coffee gardens produce over 70% of the countries’ annual exportable crop; a crop which has averaged one million bags, or 60,000 tonnes per year in recent times. The balance of the crop is grown on commercial plantations which range from 20 to 100 hectares and more in size. Again, of a total of 461 plantations registered with the Coffee Industry Corporation, all but half a dozen of the largest are owned by local, village-based business groups or individuals. (Pinched from the Story of Coffee)

Relevant information and several useful resources on Coffee in Papua New Guinea are listed below:

Coffee Websites:

• Coffee Science Information Centre: During the last two decades there has been an increase in consumer awareness of diet-related health issues and as a result of this trend many popular foods and drinks have come under scrutiny, including coffee. CoSIC was set up to work with independent sc...
• Fairtrade Foundation: Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market pric...
• International Coffee Organization: The International Coffee Organization (ICO) is the main intergovernmental organization for coffee, bringing together producing and consuming countries to tackle the challenges facing the world coffee sector through international cooperation....
• PNG Coffee Industry Corporation Ltd: Welcome to the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) Ltd website, providing information about the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Coffee Industry....
• UTZ Certified: UTZ CERTIFIED is responsible for creating an open and transparent marketplace for agricultural products. In just over five years UTZ CERTIFIED has grown to be one of the leading coffee certification programs worldwide, and is now expanding to become a mul...

Coffee Resources:

• Fairtrade Feasibility Study PNG (1.74 MB)
• Frequently Asked Questions about UTZ CERTIFIED (371.49 KB)
• UTZ Brochure (264.48 KB)
• Five Key Fairtrade Benefits (139.62 KB)
• Robusta Coffee Market 1989 - 2009 (63.58 KB)
• Arabica Coffee Market 1989 - 2009 (163 KB)
• The global food crisis and Fairtrade (2.43 MB)