Lot Gems44: Fair Trade

Buridi Krishna Rao is an active member of SAMTFMACS – Araku’s coffee cooperative and arguably one of the world’s largest independent organic coffee cooperatives. His wife Rosa Krishna Rao and Buridi recall the time when Naandi Foundation had not started coffee procurement. “We gave all of ourselves to the farm and the coffee but earned nothing in the end”, they say. Back then, the coffee fetched a bare minimum price and the persistent exploitation at the hands of traders was discouraging.

Since 2009, the duo has received three times the price for their coffee than before, without the burden of processing their cherry to parchment – a service Naandi provided. Coffee thrives when the hard work that goes into growing the fruit is appropriately rewarded and profit is assured.