Our President Weighs in on “Women Leaders and Work From a Nonprofit Perspective”

Yesterday, our president Tensie Whelan took to the Huffington Post to weigh in on the unique challenges facing women in the workplace. Here, we’ve reprinted her thoughtful piece, which includes some great tips for women looking to rise to the top in a nonprofit setting.

Having listened to months of impassioned exchange following the Sandberg-Slaughter sallies on women and work, I have decided to speak up, as a woman and CEO of the Rainforest Alliance, a global nonprofit that works to transform natural resource based industries into sustainable enterprises.

It’s a daunting, demanding, and profoundly satisfying job. We work in 100 countries with more than two million producers and 6,000 companies. Over 12 years, I have spearheaded our growth from a $4 million to a $50 million organization. Today, 12 percent of the tea, 10 percent of the cocoa and 10 percent of the forestry industry function sustainably, thanks to our collaborative approach.

But it is a man’s world. Whether for-profit or non-profit, almost all of my peers are men.

Some of the debate has centered on “male” vs. “female” values and traits, with some asking why women should adopt stereotypically male traits in order to get ahead. I think that is the wrong question. I think there are real strengths in both “male” and “female” traits. We need to learn from the effective traits associated with the opposite gender, and incorporate them into our overall skill sets.

The Athena Doctrine, just released by survey master John Gerzema, demonstrates a strong global demand for more “feminine” traits in leadership to address today’s challenges: more focus on listening and learning, on win-win solutions, on loyalty to the team and long-term thinking.

So, assuming as a woman I have most of those traits covered, what have I learned about what else I need to get ahead?

1. Family Matters: My husband died in a car accident when I was 28 years old and three months pregnant. At the time, we were living in Costa Rica. I moved back to the States to be closer to family. My parents were there for me when I was growing up, even though they both worked full-time. They gave me love and respect; they helped me get my feet on the ground after a traumatic life event. We need to parent well in order to give our children the inner strength to compete and to succeed.

2. Find Work/Life Balance: When my daughter was young, I ran a small organization on 4/5ths salary. I worked five days a week, but took long vacations and days off in compensation. Throughout my career in leadership positions, I found flexible employers and was able to plan for softball games. But for many women, a proper work/life balance is not supported by their employers, which discourages them from pursuing leadership roles.

3. Build Your Constituency and Make Your Point: One concern I hear often: Men make themselves heard while women feel ignored and resentful when their contributions are adopted and reframed by men. Why? In my experience, women tend to tell illustrative stories rather than making concrete points or aligning with previous speakers. When you’re in a meeting, build constituencies. My strategy is to decide what I want ahead of time, listen to the group members make their points, then synthesize as many of their points as possible into mine.

4. Mentor Like a Man: A study by Catalyst, a nonprofit that promotes workplace opportunities for women, found that men are mentored better because they’re more likely to be sponsored. Their mentors do more than provide feedback; they use their influence to advocate on behalf of their mentees. I have been lucky to have some very talented young women work for me and after they have done their stint, I help them find the next job.

5. The Power of Self-Promotion: I pride myself on my efficiency and effectiveness. And my Rainforest Alliance colleagues, half of whom are women, perform their jobs with passion, integrity and even brilliance. But some seem less apt than the men to let anyone know about the great contributions they’re making. Researchers at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management found that men who boasted more about their accomplishments were selected as group leaders more often than women. While chest-pounding has long been the domain of the alpha male, women need to do more of it. As you may have noticed, I am doing my bit for the team right now.

International Women’s Day: Celebrating a Sustainability Pioneer in China

International Women’s Day is an annual celebration of the achievements of women around the globe, emphasizing the need for continued sustainable change for women. This year, we are joining the celebration by highlighting a sustainability pioneer—Yunyan Huang, the female president and co-owner of China’s first Rainforest Alliance Certified™ tea estate. 

Yunyan Huang’s unpretentious, inviting demeanor belies her standing as a pioneer in China’s male-dominated agricultural sector. She has earned this distinction as the president of Green Fountain Tea Estate, the first Rainforest Alliance Certified farm in China, which she owns with her sister Xiaowei.

Yunyan Huang, owner of Green Fountain Tea Estate, receives a Rainforest Alliance Certified plaque from Josh Tosteson, vice president of certification at the Rainforest Alliance.

Nestled in the mountains of Lincang, one of the most stunning landscapes in Yunnan Province, the thriving 2,400-acre (1,000-hectare) tea farm is a testament to Yunyan’s quiet drive and ambition. It comes as no surprise that Yunyan, who also goes by the name Helen, approached Rainforest Alliance certification as if she were on a mission. She hired an independent consultant to introduce her employees to the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) Standard in 2009, and the Green Fountain Tea Estate earned Rainforest Alliance certification three years later.

“We are proud to become the first farm in China to achieve Rainforest Alliance certification,” Yunyan says. “We hope to serve as a role model to other farms, demonstrating the importance of sustainability and the benefits that certification brings to the environment, workers and our livelihoods.”

Two indigenous Wa women serving tea from Green Fountain’s tea shop in the town of Cangyuan

Yunyan’s natural attention to detail prepared her well for the rigorous three-day Rainforest Alliance certification audit. The Rainforest Alliance team, led by auditor Annabelle Calicdan, spoke with Green Fountain’s management team, toured the estate grounds, manufacturing plant and health clinic, examined conservation areas and water resources, met with members of the surrounding community, and interviewed workers about their wages, treatment and experiences. The auditing team found the estate ready for certification, with a content workforce, a neighboring community grateful for additional employment opportunities, protected and publicly accessible water sources, and a newly planted forest canopy.

Green Fountain produces 1.1 million pounds (half a million kilograms) of tea annually—enough to fill 250 million single-serving teabags—for Unilever, the owner and manufacturer of Lipton. The farm’s journey to certification paves the way for other tea farms in China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of tea, where the expansion of the Rainforest Alliance program has the potential to impact millions of acres of tea-growing land and benefit many of the 80 million people working in its production. The Rainforest Alliance is also laying the groundwork to offer training and certification services to coffee farmers in China.

Venturing into a New Territory

Entry into China’s agricultural sector was a complex endeavor that presented challenges such as excessive agrochemical use, water scarcity and a shortage of workers caused by decades of mass migration from rural to urban areas. Prior to training and certification in a new country, the Rainforest Alliance consults a range of stakeholders to determine the best approach and the necessary infrastructure.

Auditor Annabelle Calicdan (in red) talks to a farmer who grows crops in between tea bushes on Green Fountain Tea Estate.

“We have worked carefully to establish the tea program in line with Chinese regulations, local culture, traditional practices and the local environment, building a strong foundation for the authentic implementation of Rainforest Alliance certification in China,” says Asia Pacific Senior Manager Walter Smith, who also attended the Green Fountain audit.

As part of its foundation-building work, the Rainforest Alliance has emphasized farmer education to highlight the dangers of agrochemicals, introduce farmers to alternative means of controlling pests and disease, and drive home the importance of personal protective equipment when there are no appropriate alternatives to pesticides. These messages can be difficult to convey in a country where many of the most hazardous agrochemicals are widely used (despite the presence of national laws for pesticides control), but the Rainforest Alliance has received a great deal of support from local government agencies in Yunnan Province, particularly the local government in Lincang.

The Rainforest Alliance is also working with farmers in Yunnan, which has recently been plagued by drought, to protect critical watershed areas and drought-proof farms.  Noah Jackson, a lead trainer and auditor for the Rainforest Alliance, visited an uncertified farm in Yunnan and says the impact of water conservation was clear. “You can see a major difference between farms that have built in water holding capacity and protected natural springs, and those that have not protected their water sources,” he explains. “Their production is completely different.”

Nestled in the mountains of Lincang, one of the most stunning landscapes in Yunnan Province, the thriving 2,400-acre (1,000-hectare) tea farm is a testament to Yunyan’s quiet drive and ambition.

By expanding our agriculture program—which is already at work in 42 countries on four continents—into China, the Rainforest Alliance is helping to meet growing global consumer demand for sustainable goods.  Although there are a number of certification bodies currently operating in China (including Fair Trade and 4C), many farmers still view certification with skepticism. By engaging with producers and local governments slowly and cautiously, the Rainforest Alliance is working to establish trust and improve the general perception of certification in China. Our recent collaboration with China Quality Mark Certification Group (CQM), a rigorous training and certification organization, will help us to achieve this goal while strengthening our network of locally based certification partners.

Our reception at Lincang was perhaps an auspicious sign that the Rainforest Alliance is on its way to becoming a trusted, valued partner in sustainable agriculture in China. The day that we formally awarded the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal to Green Fountain Tea Estate, the government of Lincang hosted an elaborate celebration attended by dignitaries and local media—demonstrating their support for the Huangs and the Green Fountain Tea Estate. It was clear that the entire community felt proud to be the home of the first Rainforest Alliance Certified farm in China.

From the Experts: Unilever Executive Continues His Reflection on the Future of Sustainabilty

Earlier this week, we published a thoughtful piece from Unilever’s chief executive Paul Polman. Here, Polman continues his reflection on the future of sustainable business and addresses the role of women in agriculture.

One key to breaking the relentless cycle of poverty and underdevelopment is supporting the role of women in agriculture. The FAO has recently published a report, which highlighted the fact that 43 percent of agricultural workers in developing nations are women.

Women have both the greatest responsibility and the fewest resources to ensure food for their communities.  Limited access to land, finance and training, together with cultural factors, constrain women’s ability to produce and deliver adequate nutrition for their families.

Yet all the evidence indicates that, if these women had the same access to resources as their male counterparts, they could increase yields on their farms by 20 to 30 percent, raise the total global agricultural output by 4 percent and reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 17 percent.

Alongside championing a more equitable role for women, we must also provide the tools and resources to realize agricultural change.  We must harness the latest technologies, whether mobile phones, irrigation systems or farm machinery, to connect rural communities and better enable farmers to produce crops in a sustainable way.

We must also ensure that governments play their part in delivering a sustainable future. At the Rio Earth Summit last year I saw how many now question the ability of international negotiations to agree binding treaties on issues such as sustainable development and climate change, but we must not let them off the hook so easily.

Government engagement remains key to creating the enabling environment and the right incentives to drive systems change in the long term,  There are indeed many political leaders who are making this a priority in their own countries and we should applaud them for doing so.

We must continue to foster public-private partnerships — such as Unilever’s collaboration with the Tanzanian government and other businesses to establish the

A group of female farmers gather in Ghana.

Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania, which aims to transform the area’s agricultural productivity.

Only by working collaboratively, by harnessing the joint resources, reach and energy of the public and private sectors, will we have the scale and impetus necessary to drive forward new models of sustainable production and consumption.

Industry-wide action — such as the Global Consumer Goods Forum’s commitment to end deforestation throughout the supply chain by 2020 — is also vital.  I was very pleased to be involved this year in the CGF’s agreement with the US Government to co-host a partnerships dialogue on public-private efforts to help realize this goal.

As a CEO, I know something about the importance of goals; of outlining a clear, measurable path to a target.

Goals form the basis of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.  They focus our energy, challenging us each day to do better, and strive harder to enable our suppliers, our consumers and our employees to build a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive future.

Over the last decade the Millennium Development Goals have provided a framework which has focused action on international development and poverty reduction.

While success has been uneven, we must recognize the tremendous impact that this shared vision has had on progress, prompting collaboration between NGOs, governments and progressive companies towards making a real and tangible difference to people and their communities.

Earlier this year I was honored to be asked by the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, to join the High Level Panel which is reviewing the MDGs and where we need to go next.  It is not an easy task to consider how a new set of goals might be structured in a way that takes account of all the urgent issues that now face us.

But what is clear to me is that we must all do more to recognize the intertwined nature of social, environment and economic sustainability:

• Poverty cannot be overcome while ignoring environmental degradation.

• Economic growth cannot only benefit the rich at the expense of the poor.

• Food and nutritional security cannot only be a matter of producing more food, but also ensuring that it is produced in a sustainable way and that it is distributed to those that need it most.

Let us inspire better care of our planet, by advancing knowledge of the natural world.  By inspiring those around us, we can reach the scale necessary to effect a sea change in the way we treat our planet and each other.

If we are to truly deliver the Rainforest Alliance’s vision of a world where “people and the environment prosper together” we must push back the boundaries of what others say is possible and instead focus on what is necessary.

The challenge is great, but so is the opportunity.  So let us not rest on our laurels. To paraphrase a line by the great British playwright George Bernard Shaw, and made famous by the US politician Robert F. Kennedy: “Some people see the world as it is and ask: what can I do? Young people see the world as it could be and say: together we can.”

The Champagne of Teas

Maya Albanese, sustainable agriculture associate, in a Darjeeling factory.

Back from a trip to India, Rainforest Alliance sustainable agriculture associate Maya Albanese writes…

The mighty snow-capped Himalayas provide an awe-inspiring backdrop to the bright green slopes of Darjeeling, blanketed with rows upon rows of meticulously pruned tea bushes. Here, women in colorful clothes scale the slopes carrying woven baskets overflowing with bountiful autumnal harvests.  Located at the northernmost tip of the state of West Bengal, the Golden Valley of Darjeeling is famous for its high-quality, high-altitude orthodox teas. With just 80 gardens planted in Darjeeling, the harvest is small and special in comparison to other tea growing regions of the world. Production of this “champagne of teas” is high cost and low output, and it commands a premium price on the international market.

Journey to Tumsong

In November of 2012, I had the pleasure of staying on Tumsong Tea Estate, a Rainforest Alliance Certified™ tea garden approximately 5,000 feet above sea level in Darjeeling. Tumsong was planted in 1867 around a temple dedicated to the Hindu goddess Tamsa Devi, who is worshipped by the indigenous people of the Golden Valley.  It is said that when you drink the delicate brew of Tumsong — known as “the garden of happy hearts” — you receive the blessing of the goddess herself.

I arrived in Tumsong by plane from Bagdogra airport followed by three hours on a precarious, winding road. As I traveled closer to the heart of Darjeeling, the lines

The Tumsong Tea Estate.

on the faces of the people around me changed dramatically. The majority of the local population is Gorkha (of ethnic Nepali background), and the tea pluckers are almost exclusively Nepali women. You will often see the word “Gorkhaland” above signs in Darjeeling, representative of the desire of some locals to see the region become an independent state.  There are a number of other indigenous ethnic groups in the area, including Sherpas, Bengalis, Anglo-Indians, Chinese, Biharis and Tibetans.

On a clear day, you can see an exceptional view of Kangchenjunga – the tallest mountain in India and the third highest in the world — from Tumsong. It’s proximity to the Himalayas generates a constant, cool breeze, making the tea buds grow gradually and saturating their leaves with a “muscatel” flavor.  This unique flavor, the result of small insects sucking juices from the stems of tea plants, is one of the reasons Darjeeling tea is so prized.

 Harvest Seasons of Darjeeling

In order to understand tea tasting and production better, one must become attuned to a garden’s “flushes” — harvest periods throughout the year which produce varying qualities of tea. Tea is plucked from the same tea bushes and processed with the same methods during each flush, but seasonal climate variations produce distinct flavors.

The first flush takes place in mid-March, after the spring rains have arrived and the tea bushes are a vibrant green color. A cup of first flush Darjeeling tea is light green in color and has a soft floral aroma with a mildly astringent taste.

Tea pluckers bring the autumnal flush to be weighed at Tumsong.

Just before the monsoon season begins in June, the second flush is harvested. A personal favorite of mine, the second flush tea is a bit darker in color with a stronger flavor and a mild fruit taste.

The final harvest, which had occurred just before my arrival at Tumsong, is called the autumnal flush and offers a rounded cup of scents and flavors. Because this flush occurs during the monsoon, the tea leaves are extra-large and make a brew that is coppery in color with the most full-bodied taste of all the flushes.

Protecting Biodiversity

Darjeeling is located in the Eastern Himalayan zoo-geographic zone, home to endemic rare plants like high elevation orchids and endangered animals such as one-horned rhinoceroses and snow leopards. Deforestation is a serious issue in the area, largely due to increasing demand for wood fuel and timber, and air pollution from traffic congestion in the towns.

The Tumsong Tea Factory.

Fortunately, Chamong Ltd — the company that owns Tumsong Estate – is an environmental champion with a strong commitment to sustainability and a number of certifications for environmental and social stewardship.  All of its gardens are managed with minimal to no pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, and several are Rainforest Alliance Certified.

Earning Rainforest Alliance Certification

In order to become Rainforest Alliance Certified, Tumsong went through a rigorous process to meet the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) Standard, which covers waste and water management, integrated crop and pest management, and workers services and rights. It’s a challenging process in Darjeeling, particularly because erosion, pests and blights regularly affect the steep and variable terrain on which the tea is planted. Through collaborative work with the Rainforest Alliance, tea companies like Chamong are working to address these issues in a manner than is environmentally and economically sustainable.

Kanchenjunga Mountain, the third highest mountain in the world.

Enjoying Impeccable Hospitality

One of the best parts of the experience of staying at Tumsong Tea Estate is the hospitality. I stayed in the main tea house or ‘Chiabari,’ a gorgeous colonial mansion with porches facing the Himalayas, cozy fireplaces and a full-service kitchen. Particularly delightful is the tradition of bringing a tray of “bed tea” to your room each morning at the hour of your preference. The hospitality only added to an already remarkable experience in an exceptional setting.

Tourists who are interested in a first-hand experience of Rainforest Alliance Certified tea production in beautiful Darjeeling can reserve rooms at the Chiabari. Tumsong is a three-hour drive from Bagdogra airport in West Bengal and 18 miles from the town of Darjeeling, where visitors can enjoy a ride on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and one of the only steam powered trains still operating in the world. 

The Women of Vietnam’s Central Highlands

Part III of a Vietnam travelogue from Dipika Chawla, our New York-based online communities coordinator.

The shade trees overhead provided welcome protection from the mid-morning sun as I joined about 100 farmers on a Robusta coffee farm in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. We were gathered for a NESCAFÉ Plan farmer training session, the first of six that will take place over the next year.

Phung Thi Huu, a lead farmer under the NESCAFÉ Better Farming Practices training program, talks to a group of 100 Vietnamese farmers about rejuvenation, grafting, pruning, harvesting and other topics relevant to the region.

Here, Phung Thi Huu — a petite, middle-aged woman who wielded her megaphone with natural confidence — easily commanded the attention of the large group of mostly male farmers as she spoke about rejuvenation, grafting, pruning, harvesting and other topics relevant to the region.  As a NESCAFÉ Plan participant and community leader, Huu had taken part in the NESCAFÉ Better Farming Practices (NBFP) training program earlier this year hosted with support from the Rainforest Alliance. She is now responsible for training and managing 90 farmers from her village, Cao Thang, in the Dak Lak province.

Afterwards, when the whole group sat down for lunch at the home of one of the farmers, Huu worked the crowd. She floated between different groups of people, joking, laughing comfortably and making sure everyone had a place to sit. At one point, I watched a farmer say something to her and saw her respond with a smile and a bashful, dismissive gesture. My interpreter learned over and said, “He was telling her what a great speaker she was today.”

Farmers listen attentively to Huu’s dynamic presentation.

After lunch, I sat down with Huu to talk about her experience as a coffee farmer. I learned that her family had once cultivated rice. Seeking a more profitable crop, they switched to coffee in 1989, and many families in the village soon followed suit.

According to Huu, who has been part of the NESCAFE Plan since 2011, the training has deepened her technical knowledge of coffee farming. For example, she now knows how to select better quality seedlings and how to determine the exact amount of fertilizer required without letting any go to waste.

Two other women farmers I spoke with during my trip, Phung Thi Ngoc Loan and Thi Huong Nguyen, identified pruning techniques as one of the most important topics covered during the training program.

Phung Thi Ngoc Loan, a farmer in Vietnam, says that through training ““we learned that if you don’t prune the coffee trees properly, there will be too many branches sucking all the nutrients from the soil, which reduces productivity later on.”

“We learned that if you don’t prune the coffee trees properly, there will be too many branches sucking all the nutrients from the soil, which reduces productivity later on,” explained Loan. “If you do prune properly, the tree will be healthier and produce more cherries.”

Loan said that the training showed her how to identify early symptoms of coffee disease and pest damage. She has also started a compost pile with readily available materials, such as coffee husks, that she can use as fertilizer — thereby allowing her to decrease her use of chemical fertilizers. She estimates that she has reduced her fertilizer expenses by 10 to 20 percent as a result of composting.

A dog stands on a coffee farm in Vietnam.

Reducing chemical use is a common theme in the program. In addition to reducing chemical fertilizers, all three farmers reported using less herbicide for weeding purposes. On her small 3.7-acre (1.5-hectare) farm, Nguyen has cut out herbicides altogether, relying solely on hand weeding. In doing so, she’s protecting her family’s health and keeping valuable insects that help to soften her soil.

The Nguyen family carries out all of the field work, except in the harvest season, when they may hire a few extra laborers.

I asked Nguyen if she had noticed any other differences in the natural environment. “There are more birds, because of the shade trees and because we’ve been using less chemicals,” she said.  “Actually, they’re very useful for catching small pests.”

A spread of dried coffee cherries.

The shade trees offer more than bird habitat. In the training, Nguyen learned how to more evenly disperse the shade trees on her farm to create a proper canopy, which protects the coffee plants, maintains humidity and limits the growth of weeds. Fruit-bearing shade trees (such as avocado, durian and lychee) provide an added bonus. “Some of the fruit we eat and the rest we can sell at the market for a bit of extra income,” said Nguyen.

For Nguyen and Loan, the transition to sustainable agriculture has been smooth.  “In general, none of the new techniques are too difficult to follow,” Loan said. “If I have a question, I can just ask my neighbors and imitate what they are doing.”

Indeed, the vast majority of the coffee farmers in the region are smallholders, and neighbors are more than willing to help each other and exchange advice. “Some of my neighbors didn’t participate in the earlier trainings,” recalled Loan. “So when I returned from the training, I taught them what I learned about grafting techniques. After seeing how beneficial it was, they decided to participate in the next session.”

Huu posed with her grandson on her coffee farm.

Huu, on the other hand, had a somewhat different perspective as a lead farmer responsible for formally passing on the information to the other farmers in her village. She identified cultural differences as an issue, since several of the farmers in Cao Thang belong to different ethnic groups. She found that the language barrier sometimes makes it difficult to communicate and the older generation can be more resistant to adopting unfamiliar modern practices. She noted, however, that the younger generation, regardless of ethnicity, is always eager to learn and picks up new techniques very quickly.

In the short time since she joined the NESCAFÉ Plan, Huu has already perceived noticeable benefits to her farm. Her yields are higher and her costs are reduced, and she is pleased with her family’s increased awareness. They have all improved their knowledge of coffee quality, sanitation, chemical safety and environmental impacts. This means a better farming business for generations to come.

All three women said they looked forward to participating in as many NESCAFÉ Plan training events as possible. “I am always trying to learn more,” said Loan. “Farmers always need to learn more.”

Read part I and II of Dipika’s Vietnam travelogue.

A Sustainable Future for Vietnam

Dipika Chawla, our New York-based online communities coordinator, shares stories from her recent trip to meet with coffee farmers in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam.

As my plane descended into Buon Ma Thuot, the capital of Dak Lak province, I peered down at the rectangular plots of coffee plants stretching neat and green across the fertile landscape.  Three flights and two days after leaving New York City, I’d finally landed in Vietnam’s “capital of coffee,” known for decades as the heart of Vietnam’s flourishing coffee industry.

Vietnam has a vibrant coffee culture.

Accompanying me was Pham Tuong Vinh, Vietnam country coordinator for the Rainforest Alliance’s sustainable landscapes team. During the car ride from the airport to our hotel, Vinh pointed out the multitude of cafés populating every street. Though the average consumer in the West may not immediately associate Vietnam with coffee, this Southeast Asian nation boasts a vibrant coffee culture and is actually the second largest coffee exporter in the world. It is also the number one exporter of Robusta coffee, a variety that is cheaper to produce, more disease-resistant and stronger in flavor and caffeine content than the Arabica variety favored by most Western coffee drinkers.

Such a huge share of the world’s coffee production means that positive changes made in Vietnam resonate globally—making the Rainforest Alliance’s work here tremendously significant. Over a meal of curried chicken and fried rice with fish sauce, I got the chance to speak with Vinh about the Rainforest Alliance’s efforts to transform Vietnam’s coffee industry. “The national government wants 20 percent of Robusta coffee production to be certified as sustainable by 2016,” she said. “There are already five companies in Vietnam that own Rainforest Alliance Certified^TM coffee farms, and we expect that number to grow.”

Pham Tuong Vinh is the Vietnam country coordinator for the Rainforest Alliance’s sustainable landscapes team.

One of the Rainforest Alliance’s most important collaborations in Vietnam is with NESCAFÉ, Nestlé’s line of instant coffee and one of the largest coffee brands in the world. For more than a decade, NESCAFÉ and the Rainforest Alliance have worked together on coffee farms to define advanced farm management practices and improve the livelihoods of farmers. The Rainforest Alliance’s experienced agricultural specialists are working alongside Nestlé’s agronomists, the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) and 4C (Common Code for the Coffee Community) to combine traditional farmer wisdom with modern science to give farmers new tools and techniques so that they can succeed in their quest for sustainability.

In addition to working with coffee growers, the Rainforest Alliance is also promoting sustainable practices on tea farms that cover more than 328,000 acres (133,000 hectares) of land in Vietnam. In 2011, Vinh oversaw the training of 40 smallholders from tea estates in the north as well as the first certification of a Vietnamese tea company, Phu Ben. Our agriculture team aims to have 30,000 metric tons of tea grown on certified farms by 2015.

[From left to right] Dipika Chawla, our New York-based online communities coordinator, with a Vietnamese farmer.

The Rainforest Alliance has also adapted the SAN Standard to encompass the production of spices, including pepper. Vietnam, along with India, Indonesia and Madagascar, has been chosen as a location to implement the first phase of this project. The standard addresses a number of widespread problems in the pepper farming industry, including soil and water conservation, protection of workers, responsible waste management and the prohibition of dangerous pesticides and genetically modified organisms. In March 2012, the Rainforest Alliance completed an adaptation of these guidelines for pepper farming in Vietnam.

While we are making progress, transforming the agricultural sector in Vietnam is not without its challenges. According to Vinh, it has been difficult to change attitudes toward agrochemical use. “Farmers traditionally use a lot of chemicals in their fertilizer and for pest and weed control,” she said. “They even use paraquat, which is known to cause serious neurological damage.”

A coffee farmer stands among her cherries.

As most of Vietnam’s coffee is produced on small family farms between two and three acres (one and two hectares) in size, much of the field work is done by family members. Consequently, issues involving worker health hit, quite literally, close to home. As part of the Rainforest Alliance training program,  Vinh educates farmers about the dangers of certain chemicals and trains them to use safer techniques, such as applying a combination of less harmful agrochemicals and organic compost as fertilizer, employing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques instead of resorting to heavy pesticide use, and partially or fully replacing herbicides with hand and machine weeding. (The Sustainable Agriculture Network standards allow for some limited, rigorously controlled agrochemicals and strictly prohibit all chemicals listed on the Dirty Dozen list of the Pesticide Action Network North America as well as those banned by the USDA and the European Food and Drug Administration.) Farmers must keep a log of all purchases and applications of permitted chemicals, and the Rainforest Alliance provides ongoing training and assistance to help farmers continue to reduce their use of agrochemicals.

Vinh recalled a conversation with one particular tea farmer, about a year after she had been trained by the Rainforest Alliance. “She told me that she’s so happy with how clean her farm is now that they are properly dealing with waste,” said Vinh. “She said people have taken notice of how beautiful her farm looks with all of the shade trees and lack of waste. She’s also happy that her family’s health is being protected, as they’ve stopped using SAN-prohibited pesticides and learned how to use personal protective equipment while using chemicals.”

Although the Rainforest Alliance has only been working in Vietnam for a few years, nearly 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of its farmland have already been certified. “We are very young in Vietnam,” Pham said, “But I think step by step, we are contributing to changing the landscape of the agricultural sector.”

Pequeños cafetaleros en Guatemala dan un gran ejemplo al mundo

de Yessenia Soto, Rainforest Alliance

Tras cinco horas de viaje desde la ciudad de Guatemala y en medio de hermosos paisajes llegamos a Huehuetenango, al norte de Guatemala. En las empinadas laderas de sus montañas crece uno de los cafés más cotizados de ese país; de hecho, se dice que es uno de los mejores cafés del mundo.

Nuestro destino exacto era  Vista Hermosa, así que seguimos por 2,5 horas más desde Huehuetenango y surcado una intensa carretera de lastre para llegar a esta  aldea de pequeños cafetaleros, donde se ubica la Asociación de Desarrollo Económico, Social y Sostenible Los Chujes, ADESC. Esta asociación congrega a 68 pequeños productores de café que este año se convirtieron en el primer grupo de finqueros en el mundo en obtener la verificación del Módulo de Clima de Rainforest Alliance.  Esto quiere decir que cada uno está implementando una serie de prácticas agrícolas orientadas a la reducción de los gases efecto invernadero, el incremento del carbono almacenado y el fortalecimiento de la capacidad de adaptación y mitigación en sistemas agroforestales ante el cambio climático.

Vista desde las montañas de Villa Hermosa, donde está ubicados ADESC.

Nosotros llegamos a ADESC con el propósito de conocer cómo han logrado ser un ejemplo mundial de agricultura sostenible. Cinco miembros de la junta directiva nos dieron la bienvenida con una taza de café que orgullosamente llaman “café duro, duro”, una forma popular de llamar al café estrictamente duro o cafés de altura cultivados a más de 1400 msnm. En ADESC, el café crece a 1800 msnm.

Ya energizados conocimos la historia de esta asociación que tuvo su inicio en 1994, cuando varios vecinos, con el apoyo de la Asociación Nacional del Café, se unieron para realizar actividades relacionadas al manejo técnico del café. Pero fue hasta el 2006 que unos 40 productores decidieron constituir ADESC, y desde entonces han trabajado no solo para comercializar su café en conjunto, sino que para mejorar su calidad, producción y reducir su impacto en el medio ambiente.

Una de las primeras metas de la recién conformada asociación fue obtener la certificación Rainforest Alliance de agricultura sostenible, y gracias al trabajo, motivación y ayuda del programa AAA de  Nespresso –empresa a la que venden toda su producción– lograron certificarse en el 2008.

 

“Antes de eso nosotros hacíamos muchas cosas sin saber que estaban mal o que podíamos mejorar”, nos confesó Servando del Valle, presidente de la asociación. Gracias al proceso de certificación mejoraron sus prácticas agrícolas, como el manejo de desechos, redujeron el uso de agroquímicos y utilizan el equipo de seguridad al aplicarlos, prohibieron la caza y la deforestación, crearon terrazas y barreras vivas para evitar la erosión del suelo y empezaron a dar tratamiento a sus aguas negras y a proteger los acuíferos.

Leticia Monzón, miembro de ADESC, nos invitó a su finca El Jardín, de 3.5 ha, para ver en persona lo que han cambiado. Inmediatamente

Leticia Monzón en su finca El Jardín, de 3.5 ha.

nos señaló el arroyo de agua cristalina que cruza su cafetal y que antes recibía todas las aguas mieles de su beneficio húmedo. Luego nos mostró las terrazas y las barreras vivas hechas entre sus robustos árboles de café,  y nos explicó que todas las arañas que vimos entre las ramas eran buena seña de que utilizan tan pocos químicos que hasta los insectos buenos han vuelto. Ella dice que antes de la certificación no pensaba en la importancia de su finca para conservar la biodiversidad y ahora goza de ver la cantidad de aves que llegan por la fruta de sus árboles de sombra.

Además de los beneficios ambientales, el grupo ha mejorado mucho su organización: cuentan con junta directiva, toman las decisiones en asambleas, realizan iniciativas conjuntas para el desarrollo de la comunidad y velan más por la seguridad y bienestar de sus trabajadores, que principalmente son ellos mismos y sus familias. Al mismo tiempo, la certificación les ha dejado importantes beneficios económicos. Por cada quintal de café certificado Rainforest Alliance, Nespresso les paga un premio de US$8, de los cuales el 44% se destina a mantener la certificación y el restante 56% se reparte entre los asociados. Solo el año pasado, ADESC le vendió 8000 quintales a Nespresso.

Mientras recorríamos las fincas hablamos sobre el trabajo hecho para cumplir con el Módulo de Clima.  Mario López, coordinador de Rainforest Alliance del proyecto en Guatemala, nos contó que en el 2011 que le propusieron a los miembros de ADESC participar en esta iniciativa, eso sí, a sabiendas de que era una iniciativa relativamente nueva y en ese momento no había premio por estar verificados. Ellos aceptaron de inmediato y alcanzaron la verificación a inicios del 2012, tras pasar por diagnósticos, capacitaciones, talleres, elaborar planes de mejora y documentos, crear inventarios forestales, cuantificar la biomasa de las fincas y dar mucho seguimiento a su esfuerzo.

Cuando llegamos a la parcela El Rivetío (1.2 ha) pudimos ver algunas de las prácticas del Módulo Clima que están implementando. Su dueño, Mario Dionisio del Valle, nos explicó con ánimo que en su finca hay 4 árboles por cada 64m², los que además de dar sombra, capturan carbono y les dan oxígeno; a este mismo fin, contribuyen todas las barreras vivas y linderos que ha plantado para prevenir la erosión.  Las mediciones hechas durante la implementación del Módulo Clima,  evidenciadas en la verificación,  demostraron que las fincas de ADESC capturan 75 toneladas de carbono por hectárea y esta cantidad podría aumentar entre 5 a 10 toneladas gracias a la siembra de barreras vivas y especies arbóreas en áreas de linderos y barrancos.

Mario Dionisio Valle muestra que mantiene su abono orgánico bien cubierto para disminuir la volatilización y la emisión de gases de efecto invernadero.

Don Mario también nos contó que para ser amigable con el clima tuvo que aprender técnicas para reducir la emisión de gases en su finca. Durante las capacitaciones le explicaron que el fertilizante es una de las principales fuentes de emisión de gases de efecto invernadero en la agricultura, así que ahora él y todos los asociados hacen un análisis anual de suelo para conocer la cantidad exacta de fertilizante (mezcla de químico y orgánico) que deben aplicar y, además, lo entierran alrededor de cada planta y lo cubren con una capa de tierra y hojarasca para disminuir la volatilización.  La mayoría de productores de ADESC prepara su propio abono orgánico con pulpa de café, desechos orgánicos de la casa y boñiga de caballo, y ahora toman la precaución de mantenerlo siempre bien cubierto.  Como parte de un plan piloto, Rainforest Alliance los ayudará a instalar un biodigestor para aprovechar el gas metano de estas composteras y obtener así gas para las casas.

En el centro de acopio de ADESC, que funciona como sede del grupo, los miembros se reúnen regularmente para capacitarse y discutir sobre mitigación y adaptación al cambio climático y otros temas de agricultura sostenible. En la visita vimos algunos materiales elaborados para registrar los cambios que han notado en las temperaturas, lluvia y disponibilidad de agua en los últimos años, así como mapas sobre zonas de riesgo en caso de emergencias naturales.

“Siempre habíamos visto estos cambios pero hasta ahora sabemos que se debe al cambio climático y que nuestras acciones pueden ayudar a disminuir sus consecuencias”, aseguró Arnoldo Cifuentes, el gerente de la asociación.

Nuestra última parada fue la casa de doña Leticia. Su patio para secado al sol del café estaba vacío porque no era tiempo de cosecha, pero desde ahí vimos su beneficio húmedo (cada productor de ADESC cuenta con uno), aprendimos cómo funciona la pequeña despulpadora, la pila de fermentación, el correteo para clasificación y conocimos algunas prácticas sostenibles implementadas en el proceso de beneficiado. Por ejemplo, para reducir el consumo de agua se aplica el sistema de recirculación de las aguas usadas en el lavado y la fermentación; además tienen plantas de tratamiento que filtran el agua residual de forma natural hacia la tierra, en lugar de tirarlas a los arroyos como se hacía antes.

Con la ayuda de la Asociación Nacional de Cooperativas Eléctricas Rurales (NRECA) y Rainforest Alliance,  la casa de doña Leticia también

Los arroyos que antes recibían las aguas de desecho de los beneficios de café lucen ahora limpios gracias a las buenas prácticas de agricultura implementadas para la certificación Rainforest Alliance.

está participando en un proyecto de eficiencia eléctrica que se espera expandir a otros productores de ADESC. Al final vimos donde ella prepara su abono orgánico, su pequeño vivero y la diminuta parcela que le dio a su hijo de 8 años, para que él haga su propia huerta aplicando las buenas prácticas agrícolas  que sus padres implementan en el café.

“Nosotros somos visionarios”, dijo doña Leticia cuando le preguntamos cuál es la motivación que los ha llevado a lograr este cambio. “No hacemos esto por plata sino porque el ser humano necesita seguir teniendo aire para respirar, los pájaros necesitan árboles para vivir y comida para migrar y porque tenemos que pensar en las futuras generaciones, en dejarles un lugar para que ellos puedan seguir viviendo”.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

Yessenia Soto — our Costa Rica-based communications associate — shares inspiring stories from a recent trip to meet with climate-friendly coffee farmers in Northern Guatemala.

After a five-hour drive that started in Guatemala City and took us through gorgeous pastoral landscapes, we reached Huehuetenango in Northern Guatemala. On the steep slopes of its mountains, farmers grow the country’s most coveted coffee, which some say is among the best in the world.

The beautiful view from Vista Hermosa.

Our final destination was Vista Hermosa, a two-and-a-half hour drive north of the capital of Huehuetenango. That remote coffee farming hamlet is the seat of the Los Chujes Sustainable, Social and Economic Development Association (ADESC, for its name in Spanish) which represents 68 small farmers. This year, those farmers became the first group in the world to earn Rainforest Alliance verification for climate-friendly practices, a voluntary add-on to Rainforest Alliance certification. In order to earn verification, these farmers implemented a series of agricultural practices aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing carbon stocks and strengthening their capacity for climate change mitigation and adaption.

We had come to the region to learn how the group became a model of sustainable agriculture. Five members of the board welcomed us with a brew they proudly called “hard, hard coffee,” the local term for strictly hard bean — or strictly high grown — coffee which must be produced at least 4,500 feet above sea level. The ADESC farms are 5,900 feet above sea level.

As we savored the unique flavor, they told us about their association. The farmers began meeting in 1994 to discuss strategies to improve their farm management. However, it wasn’t until 2006 that approximately 40 producers founded ADESC — since then, they’ve worked together to market their coffee, improve its quality, increase farm production and reduce their impact on the environment.

One of the first goals of the newly formed association was to implement sustainable agriculture practices and earn the Rainforest Alliance Certified™ seal. With plenty of hard work and support from the Nespresso AAA program — a sustainable quality program run by Nespresso, which buys all of ADESC’s coffee — the group earned the green frog seal in 2008.

“Before, we did many things without knowing they were wrong or could be done better,” confessed Servando del Valle, the association’s president. In order to get their farms certified, ADESC members improved their waste management, reduced agrochemical use, began using safety gear when applying chemicals, banned hunting and deforestation, created terraces by planting living barriers to prevent soil erosion and began treating wastewater to protect the aquifer.

ADESC member Leticia Monzóninvited us to her 8.6-acre (3.5-hectare) farm, Finca El Jardín (in English, “The Garden”), to show us the

Leticia Monzón, owner of an 8.6-acre (3.5-hectare) farm called Finca El Jardín.

changes she had made. First, she pointed out the clear stream that flows through her farm — a stream that used be polluted with wastewater from her coffee mill. She then showed us the terraces she created by planting living barriers amidst the rows of sturdy coffee bushes and pointed out spider webs in the branches, a reflection of her reduced agrochemical use which has brought the good bugs back. She explained that before getting her farm certified, she never thought about its importance for conserving biodiversity. Now, she is happy to see how many birds live on her farm and eat the fruit from its shade trees.

In addition to environmental benefits, farmers have improved their organization. ADESC now has a board of directors and holds regular meetings. The group has worked together to develop their community and ensure the safety and welfare of their workers, who are primarily family members.

At the same time, certification has brought economic benefits. Nespresso pays the organization a premium of US $8 per sack of coffee. ADESC uses 44 percent of that premium to ensure that its farms stay certified, and divides the remaining 56 percent among its members. Last year alone, ADESC sold 8,000 sacks of Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee to Nespresso.

On our tour of the farms, we learned about the work done to earn Rainforest Alliance verification for compliance with additional climate criteria. Mario Lopez, a Guatemala-based project coordinator at the Rainforest Alliance, told us that he suggested that ADESC members participate in the initiative in 2011. He was quick to note, however, that they shouldn’t expect to get a better price for their coffee since it was a new initiative. They accepted the challenge at once and attained verification in early 2012, after completing evaluations and training workshops, developing improvement plans, compiling forest inventories, quantifying the biomass of their farms and other efforts.

Mario Dionisio Valle on his 3.6-acre (1.2-hectare) farm El Rivetío.

At El Rivetío, a 3-acre farm (approx 1.2-ha) that belongs to Mario Dionisio Valle, we saw some of the practices that he implemented to earn climate verification. Valle happily explained that his farm has four trees for every 213 square feet (64 square meters), which provide shade for the coffee, capture carbon and produce oxygen. The same can be said for the hedges and other living barriers he has planted to prevent erosion. Measurements have shown that ADESC farms capture 75 tons of carbon per hectare and that amount could be increased by five to ten tons by planting trees and living fences along farm boundaries and ravines.

Valle also explained that he took steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to make his farm more climate-friendly. Through the training, he learned that fertilizer is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, so he and the other ADESC farmers use annual soil analyses to determine the ideal amount and mix of chemical and organic fertilizers to apply. They place fertilizer in holes around each plant, and cover it with a layer of soil and leaf litter to reduce volatilization. ADESC farmers also make organic fertilizer by composting coffee pulp, kitchen waste and horse manure, which they are careful to keep covered.

Members meet regularly at the association’s coffee collection center—which serves as its headquarters for training–to discuss climate change mitigation and adaptation and other sustainable agriculture issues. During our visit, we saw some of the records they’ve compiled of changes in temperature, rainfall and water availability, as well as maps of areas where the risk of natural disasters is the greatest.

“We had always noticed these changes, but only now do we understand that they are due to climate change and that we can help to reduce its impact,” said ADESC manager Arnoldo Cifuentes.

Our last stop was Leticia Monzón’s home. Her coffee-drying patio was empty because it wasn’t harvest time, but she showed us her mini

A clean stream on Leticia Monzón’s farm.

coffee mill (each ADESC farmer has one), with its pulper and cement tanks used to wash and ferment coffee beans. She explained some of the sustainable practices she has implemented in the milling process, such as reducing water consumption by recycling water used for washing and fermentation. The mill’s wastewater, which she used to dump into a stream, now flows into a sedimentation pool, where it filters into the ground.

With help from the Rainforest Alliance and the National Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives (NRECA, for its name in Spanish), Leticia is also participating in an electricity saving project that will later be expanded to include other ADESC members. She showed us where she produces organic fertilizer, invited us into her small nursery, and brought us to a tiny plot where her 8-year-old son has planted his own garden using the same good agricultural practices that his parents apply on their coffee farm.

“We are visionaries,” Leticia said, when asked what motivated her and other ADESC members to make so many changes. “We aren’t doing this for money, but because human beings need to have air to breathe, the birds need trees to live in and food for migrating, and because we have to think about future generations and leave them a place where they can live.”

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