Green Net Organic Forest Coffee Project

An Overview Of Our Solution

The Organic Forest Coffee Project started in 2010 with the objective to stop and reverse deforestation in target areas - the watersheds of northern Thailand while increasing the economic strength of farmers, farmers' groups, and the village communities there residing. An organic forest production system with coffee as the understory and the key commercial crop, linked with a complete quality supply chain involving the farmers and bringing a high value return was the solution. 7 years later the forest, watershed, and environmental health have markedly improved to the point that the National Park signed an MOU to revitalize and restore the degraded forest of the National Park - an area of 20,000 rai = 3,200 hectares over 10 years (2016- 2025) through the practice of Organic Agroforestry in collaboration with the farmers, Green Net SE, and Earth Net Foundation.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Corporation

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Forests

Freshwater

Population impacted

345 farming families involved (about 1500 persons)

Size of agricultural area

1120 ha

Production quantity

420 metric tons parchment bean/year

People employed

25 staff (full time)

Describe your solution

Organic Forest Coffee Production with a total quality supply chain The production system includes 2 situations. In Wiang Pa Pao district the villages involved live in and around a National Park and the general forest quality was good but increasingly degraded before the Project with the spread of corn and passionfruit production. Coffee was an existing crop but obtaining low value. The Project developed a good knowledge - starting from almost no knowledge- of best practices for organic forest coffee production, and all steps of post-harvest management together with the farmers involved who have become skilled organic coffee farmers and processors. The increased value and return was much more interesting. Chemical use stopped and areas that were cleared have been replanted with coffee agroforestry systems. After a few years, Khunchae National Park saw the effectiveness and benefit of this way of working and became a collaborator and supporter. In Mae Suai and Muang districts where coffee was sun grown (nearly monoculture), the Project developed standards for conversion into an organic agroforestry system (min 50 trees per rai of at least 10 different varieties (1 hectare = 6.25 rai) and helped to provide seedlings of fruit and forest trees. These coffee orchards are gradually being converted to these agroforestry systems. Earlier converted gardens already have some shade and good diversity. Once the fruit trees involved are bearing, there will be even more value.

Describe your implementation

1. Transition from conventional to organic management - stopped all use of agrochemicals - ENF and GNSE researched and developed knowledge on best organic coffee management practices with the farmers to ensure this transition was successful and sustainable. 2. Organic Forest Standards + Management- stopped and reversed deforestation and forest degradation and cleared / mono cropped areas have or are being transformed into agroforestry systems with coffee as the understory. This is possible as shade grown coffee is a superior quality coffee. Tree seedlings from the Project and the National Park have facilitated forest restoration in degraded/ cleared areas. As restoring the forest provides a valuable yield of organic forest coffee and much more, this has been a key success factor. 3. Getting the National Park to recognize the benefit of the Project was a challenge. Since the lands of these villagers were designated to be in National Park areas, they have had conflict with the government and questionable tenure. With open communications and invitation, the National Park over time recognized that this organic forest production system was effectively regenerating the forest and watershed health and became collaborating supporters. 4. The drive for urban migration and conventional cropping of corn and passionfruit was primarily economic as monetary needs and expectations have increased. The total quality supply chain approach involving the farmer members in many steps, yields a high value end product and much more value to the farmers while organic management reduced external input costs. Increased NTFPs, improved environmental health and emerging secondary businesses (eco-coffee-cultural homestays) are reversing this trend. 5. Biggest challenge - ENF / GNSE started with almost no knowledge of coffee production, processing, etc. However good relationships with many other organizations and this social capital facilitated learning and partnerships that continue.

External connections

Khunchae National Park- Relationship between farmer/villagers & National Park staff has charged from being difficult to now working together to care for the forest, prevent forest fires & replant/restore forest together. Earth Net Foundation helped to start the Project & continues in a supporting role. An MOU with Khuechae National Park & Lam Nam Kok National Park was signed in 2016 to revitalize & restore the degraded forest of the National Park- an area of 20,000 rai = 3,200 hectares over 10 years together (2016- 2025) through the practice of Organic Agroforestry. This relationship a collaboration between Green Net SE (a social enterprise legally private corporation) Earth Net Foundation (non-profit), & the National Park (government agency) to do forest restoration in a way that works with & benefits local villagers has been identified by Mae Fa Luang University in Chiang Rai as a very interesting model to promote in other areas. Earth Net Foundation is a Thai non-profit has many years of experience helping to develop organic & fair trade supply chains with small-holder farmer groups & collaborating institutions to become self-sustaining social enterprises that yield many other benefits. Green Net SE was born out of Earth Net Foundation. A private social enterprise model was chosen to maintain the same principles & objectives but to allow for the large amount of investment required to develop a coffee based enterprise & to not pass excessive risk to farmer members

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

Thailand in general has suffered rapid forest loss and degradation over the last 50 years (1961 over 27.5 million hectares- 2010 only 11.6 million hectares). The upland watersheds of northern Thailand, a key remaining forest area, have been under pressure as more and more small farmers have been taking on cash crops, particularly feed corn and passionfruit. Both require full sun (forest clearing) and use of chemical fertilizers and other agrochemicals as they are promoted. Deforested slopes suffer from rapid topsoil erosion with heavy rains that also are more likely to flood and silt rivers. Agrochemicals enter to watershed from its beginning, degrading water quality for all downstream and damage the forest biodiversity. This project has been working to arrest deforestation, restore watershed health, stop agrochemical use, restore forest health and biodiversity while providing improved livelihoods to the farmer/ custodians of the forest.

Describe the context in which you are operating

The project is operating in 9 villages in 3 upland watershed areas of Chiang Rai, the northernmost province of Thailand. Most of the land is above 1000 meters in altitude. The village communities are of different ethnic communities, include Thai, Karen, Lahu, Akha, and Mian. These communities were recently poorer than most rural Thai communities due to their remote location, meaning increased logistic costs for produce sold, and less government investment and infrastructure, but due to their remoteness they have maintained more of their traditional culture and livelihoods including the practice of home gardening. Recent developments have rapidly changed this, in particular better roads, electricity, easier access to schools, but also pushed the communities to change. Self-reliant agriculture no longer seems sufficient, pushing more to emigrate to urban and industrial areas for work and to shift to cash crops that are grown in full sun (deforestation) with agrochemicals.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Over all water quality has improved. In Wiang Pa Pao, streams are running longer in the dry season, certain fish varieties that disappeared from the stream have returned in particular a very tasty water quality sensitive fish, Schistura demotes, which can now be quite easily found. There has been a large increase in jungle fowl, wild pheasants, and wild boars and there has been evidence of tigers returning to the area (paw prints and smell of tiger). The forest is clearly in better health. In areas where monocrop coffee has been converted to organic forest coffee, there is a large increase in diversity and forest cover. There has been a notable increase in forest mushrooms and wild vegetables. The forest is greener (in dry season) and more resistant to fire. With stop of chemical use, streams now again provide good quality water for home use. Methodology is organic agroforestry, stop of deforestation, preservation of healthy forest areas, designate some forest areas and streams as no hunting/ fishing wildlife sanctuaries, replant degraded forests areas, stop chemical use. Schistura desmotes http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/180876/0

Language(s)

Thai

Water

The improved forest quality, increasing restored area, halt of chemical use, and villagers and all actively working to prevent and stop forest fires has very significantly improved the watershed. This can be seen and measured most noticeable in the water quality and fish now found, and in the greater flow of streams and creeks into the driest parts of the summer dry season. Villagers again use of water for home consumption from some creeks that they had stopped using as quality is now good.

Food Security/Nutrition

While many of the villager farmers practiced home gardening before the project, this has increased as the Project has promoted a return to cultivation of diverse traditional vegetables. Wild foods – mushrooms, bamboo shoots, wild vegetables, fish and small game have all increased markedly. The organic forest system also includes some other productive fruit crops, such as jackfruit, persimmon, avocados and macadamias, which are increasing with forest restoration and agroforestry systems.

Economic/Sustainable Development

This project follows fair trade principles and the farmers have greatly increased the quality of the coffee they grow. This means far more income than before (avg increase over 15% from coffee alone). Farmer villagers also manage the postproduction process and earn from this, while reducing costs by nutrient recycling for soil fertility. Run as a social enterprise, the Project has been able to develop and grow primarily from the sales of quality coffee sold both as roasted and green bean.

Climate

While the stop of deforestation and increase in forest cover and both soil (through no till organic practices) and living carbon (in trees) should sequester carbon and thus help to reduce greenhouse gases, we can only estimate the sequestration levels. However in terms of climate change resilience, there is much more clear and immediate effect. The improved forest cover is clearly capturing more water, both reducing flooding and can be seen in longer running streams in the dry period.

Sustainability

While the project started with initial support from Earth Net Foundation, a non-profit, and receives some non-financial support for the collaborating National Park, the Project has grown and operated on income from the sale of coffee. The whole basis for this is a market-driven supply chain approach. While the project has succeeded to advance very far, it still needs to grow its market further to be in line with the growth of it production and coffee supply. This is a current focus.

Return on investment

There have been a large capital investment, but almost all of this has been private investors (partners) who believed both in the social and economic viability and returns on investment. While the Project has not yet reached the point of returning dividends and still is growing and developing, it has met and exceeded many of its benchmarks and thus the economic value of these investments has increased. The social and environmental returns have exceeded expectations.

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

Revitalizing the forest & highland rural communities through organic forest management with coffee as a key understory crop, is already being promoted by the Khunchae National Park authority and a few other small farmer groups in the area,and could be applied in tropical watersheds around the world with coffee and cacao, crops that perform well in high levels of shade and can yield high returns. With a diversity of trees (fruit, forest, and spice trees), the net value & biodiversity can be very high. Forest gardens of Sri Lanka are one similar system. A salient point of this Project is that it is stopping & reversing forest loss primarily through the efforts, management, and stewardship of upland villagers who live in and around national parks which have come to recognize this is more effective. This principle is the most interesting to adapt & apply elsewhere. Needs: quality supply chain, organic agroforestry system, private enterprise, farmers, park partnership, social investors.

Overview