CRS wants coffee pots to play a role in economic development

Published: 2003-12-02

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic Relief Services wants to put your coffee pot to work for social justice. The U.S. church's overseas relief and development agency is teaming up with Equal Exchange to boost consumption of coffee purchased at prices that pay a living wage to growers, known as fair trade. A campaign launched Nov. 25 will ask the 19,000 Catholic parishes in the United States to serve and sell fair-trade coffee. The effort also aims to educate consumers about the effects of trade policies on small farmers and raise awareness among Americans about the economic realities of life in poor countries. Joan Neal, CRS deputy executive director of U.S. operations, told reporters in a Nov. 25 teleconference that 70 percent of the world's coffee is grown by small-scale farmers, but the crop is increasingly not economically viable for them. "Most of them struggle," she said. "Many are forced to sell their crop at less than their production costs."

Copyright (c) 2003 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .