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Mexican farmer vouches for Free Trade coffee

Saying he and others are being exploited by distributors, a Mexican coffee farmer described injustices against coffee traders last night at the Photonics Center.

“People are going through conditions worse than ever,” Lorenzo Jose said through an interpreter. “People are leaving their lands and taking up drinking out of desperation. Their only source of income is coffee.”

With his talk sponsored by the Free Trade Coalition of Boston University, Jose said small families in rural Mexico have only five acres to farm coffee in, allowing them 1200-1400 pounds a year. Most distributors pay 25 cents per pound. Fair Trade distributors, however, pay the farmers $1.26 per pound.

“When you buy coffee with the [Fair Trade] seal, the price difference helps the coffee grower. It makes it possible for the community to build schools and improve roads. It helps businessmen get Internet access and improve their businesses. If there is no clinic in town, at least a doctor can take up residence there.”

Jose stressed the Free Trade organization was not sponsored by the government.

“We have to push the government real hard to get improvement,” he said. “They might announce a $200 million program on television, but then they will take 10 percent of that for operational costs. The government doesn’t worry about the rural areas.”

The market for Free Trade coffee needs to increase, Jose said.

“People need to buy more coffee with the seal on it so we can make more,” he said. “We don’t want people to abandon their farms and migrate to the United States.”

“We should see Fair Trade coffee in the [School of] Law and [Metcalf] Science buildings by next week,” said College of the Arts and Sciences sophomore and Fair Trade Coalition member Erin Gore. “We’ve been gathering signatures for a petition to the dining services people, and they’ve agreed to start bringing in Fair Trade coffee.”

The Fair Trade organization is much more active in the United Kingdom and on the West Coast, Gore said. However, the East Coast is beginning to catch up. Students from Boston College and Tufts University, among other schools, have become involved in the Fair Trade program as well.

“Universities are great places to start organizing, because students are so dependent on coffee,” Gore said. “After they become aware of the problem, then they go out and educate the community.”

College of Communication senior Jamie Weiss agreed coffee farmers needed to be helped, but was unsure that the Fair Trade Coalition’s methods would be completely effective.

“I think their hearts are in the right place, but I feel kind of weird about supporting Starbucks and their unfair labor and business practices,” he said. “It’s a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done.”

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