Did you know?
‘The first coffee house in the UK opened in Oxford in 1650.’
‘Coffee is the world’s most valuable traded commodity after oil.’
The Coffee industry is worth over $60 billion a year. Starbucks’ (the US coffee chain) annual turnover of £7.8 billion is equal to about three-quarters of Ethiopia’s entire gross domestic product (the total value of all the goods and services produced in a country in a year). Ethiopia is thought to be where coffee was first discovered.
The average cup of coffee at a high street coffee chain will cost £2.00 out of which the roasters/producers will make 85p, the café 50p and the growers only 5p.
‘In 2000 Finland was the top coffee-drinking country in the world with the average person consuming a staggering 9.88 kg! In China people drink one cup of coffee a year on average, this is expected to rise rapidly this century as China develops its economy.’
As part of the Year 9 Geography course pupils investigate the coffee and cocoa industries. Exploring where and how these invaluable commodities are produced and also issues surrounding world trade of these crops. The knowledge and understanding gained from these lessons feeds into a fieldtrip to the Cadbury factory in Bournville, Birmingham. At Bournville pupils investigate how the global company – Cadbury Schweppes Plc operates in the UK and worldwide. Pupils also investigate Cadbury’s ethical and environmental polices, in particular their contributions to cocoa farmers in Ghana.
The main ideas of this topic are to get pupils to consider the following points:
We are linked to real people all over the world; through the foods and drinks we buy. Coffee and cocoa are just two examples. Millions of small farmers in Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs) depend on crops such as coffee for their livelihood. The crops are usually bought by global companies, e.g. Nestle, which process and package them for sale in our shops. World prices of coffee and many other crops have fallen over recent years, mainly due to over production; this reduces the income of farmers, however global companies still make a profit. Fair trade is a practical way for farmers in LEDCs, e.g. Costa Rica, India, Ethiopia to escape poverty as they are guaranteed a fair price for their crops plus their communities benefit from ‘social premium payments’ these can fund wells, schools and health clinics.September 2006 Year 9 have started this year by studying Fair Trade, and coffee and cocoa in particular. Here are a few examples of their work so far. (Click on the images to enlarge them.)
Kathryn's AutoBEANography of a coffee bean. (850KB PDF file)