News Report Update for December 2009 EcoCafé Haiti’s first harvest of cherry coffee is complete. This represents a major milestone in the program, a milestone achieved by our Haitian employees without close supervision from their US advisors. The results of our harvest and processing are noted below. The purpose of this report is to provide you with an update regarding how your donation and support have been put to use, and to make you aware of what to expect with the remainder of the program. The report comes to you soon after my recent visit of December 2009. Objectives of the program As you may recall, the objectives of the program are as follows:
Recent Accomplishments As reported earlier this year, our original objectives of restoring 60 acres of land to good health and planting those acres with food crop, Haitian Arabica coffee, and shade trees have been realized. Since my last trip in September, our 25 employees have devoted most of their time to purchasing, pulping, fermenting, and drying coffee from our 300 area coffee farmers, while also helping the coffee farmers with harvesting and cultivating their gardens. When time permitted, the team cleaned the terraces on our original 60 acres of reforested land.
The results of our harvest were mixed. Although we had hoped for a larger harvest, we purchased and processed 7,000 lbs. of cherry coffee yielding less than 1,000 lbs. of processed, green coffee.
Despite the shortfall in volume, our employees and coffee facility performed as planned.
 According to Dan Kuhn, President of the Hawaiian Coffee Growers Association and our coffee agronomist, the quality of the coffee is excellent.
  On another note, we reorganized the Haitian management team, eliminating conflicting reporting relationships and emphasizing greater specificity of responsibilities for each manager. Hopefully, these changes will result in better decision making and improved accountability. George Derval, our Executive Director, will primarily assume responsibility for community relations, resource procurement, and higher level vision/leadership/direction. Reporting to George is Michel Deus, our field supervisor, and Frantz Pierre Roesner, our agronomist. Deus will continue to oversee the majority of our workers and execute specific field duties for cultivation of coffee and food crops, and reforestation. Frantz Pierre, our agronomist, will assume full responsibility for coffee processing, the processing facility, our plant nursery, and our new coffee demonstration garden. When needed, Frantz will provide technical support to Deus for field operations.
Lastly, we have established a process to roast our
 Lessons learned As an adjunct professor of marketing, you would think that yours truly would have mastered the art of marketing, abiding by the fundamental principles of marketing known as the 4 Ps of marketing (price, promotion, product and placement). The good Lord has a way of humbling even the most experienced and supposedly learned…
 Pricing problem: In addition to transportation, most farmers were accustomed to selling their coffee at the local market as “pile” coffee, coffee that is simply dried and hulled (i.e., not pulped, fermented or washed). Further, they sell their pile coffee as finished, green coffee for about US$.74/lb. Conversely, we purchase the farmers’ coffee as cherry coffee for US$.17/lb. After pulping/drying/hulling, green coffee is only 15% of the weight of cherry coffee; therefore, our price of US$.17/lb. for cherry coffee is equivalent to US$1.13/lb. for green coffee, a 50% premium over the local market price. Unfortunately, with most farmers lacking an education, it was not obvious that our cherry coffee prices provided them with a far better financial return while also obviating the need for the farmers to labor over and process their pile coffee.  Promotion problem: Lastly, although several Haitians now have cell phones, most of rural Haiti has no telecommunication infrastructure (i.e., no telephone, no radio/television, no printed media, no Internet, etc.). Accordingly, communication largely is accomplished by word-of-mouth. With our coffee farmers scattered over a 60 square mile area without regular communication/contact beyond their local cluster of farms/homes, many farmers were not made aware of EcoCafé Haiti’s “grand opening” in September. As such, many coffee fields remained unharvested or were sold in small lots at the local market. Although our employees made a vain attempt to promote our business by trekking to the outer regions of the community and using a bull horn to announce EcoCafé Haiti’s desire to purchase their coffee, by the time our “advertisement” was received, the coffee season was already well into its prime.
Despite these shortcomings, shortcomings that hopefully were corrected on this trip, the coffee farmers and employees remain excited by the prospect of next season’s harvest commencing in September, 2010.
 Next set of challenges Now that we have a modest supply of parchment coffee (coffee that needs to be dry hulled before shipment to the US as green coffee), the process of exporting the coffee from Haiti to the US represents a challenge.  To maximize profitability from our harvest, Dan Kuhn recommends we contract with a roaster in the US to roast and package our coffee as a finished consumer product, subsequently selling it directly to consumers at consumer prices. This is an alternative we had not planned to pursue until next harvest season. Although we had intended to sell our coffee indirectly as green coffee to roasters, the pricing advantage of a direct consumer sale makes this alternative ever more enticing. Conversely, the task of marketing and selling directly to consumers requires resources, time, and financial capital that go beyond what I am able to provide on my own. Fortunately, several supporters of the program have offered their volunteer services to help with this effort. A decision on direct consumer sales will be made in the next month or so.
With the harvest season over our employees will devote the next 6 months to the coffee farms, assisting the farmers with pruning their coffee plants and creating compost piles for plant nourishment. As simple as this may sound, we anticipate having to convince the farmers to prune their plants, foregoing one season of cherry coffee in favor of a fourfold increase in volume the following season.
 While most employees will be working in the coffee fields, the remainder of our team will work on increasing the coffee drying capacity of our facility, creating a coffee demonstration field adjacent to our facility, and supporting the local farmers with food cultivation (as has been done in the past). With the expectation of a significant increase in coffee volume next season, additional drying racks will be required. A demonstration coffee garden will serve as a model for the coffee farmers to follow, a model that demonstrates proper planting, feeding/watering, weeding, and pruning of the coffee plants.  Lastly, as before, we will assist with planting and cultivating food crops that benefit the Christian Flights school children and our less fortunate farmers, a total of about 40 farmers, most of whom are unable to work their gardens on their own (the aged, infirmed or widowed).
Parting comments   neighboring community decided it was in their best interest to move into Jude’s home, taking advantage of his mental state and sequestering him to a small room in the back of his house. Thanks to a special donation from one of our donor corporations, Jude will be compensated uniquely with a meal/day provided by a local citizen, and will receive medical attention (as needed) and clothing. We are very grateful for the support of donors such as this who go out of their way to help those who truly are in need. To the left is a picture of Jude in his room and to the right is a picture of Jude with his newly acquired attire, only the second set of clothing he owns.
As with any entrepreneurial endeavor, risk plays a factor. Our program is no exception. As noted with this past harvest season, next season we face the risk of the farmers not supplying the facility with sufficient cherry coffee and/or the farmers not cultivating their crops as instructed. Although we think we have corrected the problems experienced in the recent past, the fact remains that next season may prove no different. Although we will generate modest income from the sale of roasted coffee to short-term missionaries visiting the Christian Flights campus and from the sale of our exported coffee to the US, we still need to secure donations necessary for the remainder of the program. From this point onward, most of the donation funds will pay for our non-revenue producing activities (continued reparation of the land, food crops for those unable to tend their land, and assistance to coffee farmers for crop cultivation/harvest). In conclusion, I want to thank each of you for your advice, prayers, and financial support. Without you, over 350 Haitians would have remained destitute, hungry, and dispirited. Because of your generosity, these wonderful people have a firm basis for a hope-filled future, a future in which they will be able to control their own economic destiny. Tom Durant 541-683-1778 | Ranquitte, Haiti
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