Harrison Kalua is the General Manager of
the Smallholder Coffee Farmers Trust (SCFT) and has attended several
cupping trainings and competitions throughout the world. However,
when he attended the USAID Malawi sponsored 1st annual national
cupping competition in September 2005 he was impressed with how
cupping against Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA)
standards reduced the subjectivity of cupping coffees and made
this skill open to all practitioners. He knew he needed to replicate
this sort of training in the Mzuzu area of northern Malawi where
the SCFT works with over 3,500 smallholder coffee growers including
McDonald Nguluwe.
Harrison had extra motivation to organize
a similar training in northern Malawi because his smallholder
growers swept the top five coffees in the 2005 competition. After
showcasing his national competition winning coffees in September
and October at international cupping events in Germany and Costa
Rica, respectively, he returned to Malawi to host his internal
SFCT competition in December. Patterned on the national competition,
the Mzuzu training/competition was held over the course of two
days during the first week of December. Harrison sought and received
assistance from USAID in the form of SCAA support materials to
assist the training.
Harrison Kalua “breaking the crust”
at the Mzuzu coffee cupping competition
Since winning the national competition Harrison
has been able to export his smallholder’s coffees to international
markets. His “national winner” status at the Germany
competition provided him the opportunity to close a deal on 18
metric tons to a specialty coffee buyer in Italy. SFCT coffee
sold at a 35% premium above the “New York C” or coffee
reference price on the New York Board of Trade. His Costa Rica
trip has already lined up interested buyers for the 2006 crop
now in the field.
Harrison wants to retain his competitive
edge for his company, the Trust, and his growers and understands
that quality control is at the root of this success. He is quoted
in one of the national Malawian newspapers as stating that the
SFCT must “pull up our socks in order to maintain the lead
in the coffee industry” and that this explains why “this
in-house exercise” of an internal coffee training and competition
is so important. His target is to have 60% of the SFCT annual
production classified as “specialty”.
The increased market awareness of the quality
of Malawi’s coffees not only translates in increased exports,
improved foreign exchange earnings and higher profits for the
Trust.
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