Meeting Members:
CABI is an international, intergovernmental, not-for-profit organization that improves people’s lives worldwide by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment.
For over 50 years CABI has helped sustainably improve coffee production by sharing its expertise in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) with smallholder farmers and stakeholders in the global coffee value chain.
As a leading scientific organisation this extensive knowledge was developed through research in aspects of plant health, the pests and diseases affecting coffee, and developing solutions to combat these. Expertise was shared with our coffee producing Member Countries and has been supported by training and implementation at extension and farmer level.
CABI’s goals are focused on improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers by ensuring they grow more and lose less in a way which is sustainable for people and the planet.
We work in partnership to support smallholder farmers with interventions in the production system. These are focused on GAP and IPM, with expertise on pest and pesticide risk reduction and subsequent IPM and biocontrol implementation.
CABI has extensive value chain expertise from processing through to end supply to global customers of coffee in all its forms and has worked with a variety of Global Coffee Partnership (GCP) members.
Recently, CABI carried out work in partnership with GCP on pesticide risk reduction in Vietnam and looks forward to building on this with members.
We have also worked in partnership to help Colombia’s coffee farmers fight the devastating coffee berry borer with an early-warning system that harnesses climatic and state-of-the-art remote data.
In 2022, CABI published research that suggests the role of women in coffee production in Ethiopia should be promoted across the whole value chain as well as improving their access to productive resources and services.
Neil Willsher, CABI’s Global Director for Value Chains and Private Sector Business Development, said that CABI has worked in the past with many GCP members individually and wished to leverage this work and core expertise to work with and across the GCP platform.
“We are excited to engage with GCP and its members and learn more about its work, such as the Coffee Sustainability Reference Code and GCP Collective Action Initiatives,” said Mr Willsher.
“The global coffee market is expected to be worth USD $112.8 billion by 2030 and sustainable production increases to meet this demand will be dependent upon combating the dual challenges posed by crop pests and diseases, and growing conditions threatened by climate change.
“In partnership with, and through membership of the GCP, CABI can share the work we do and seek opportunities to add value to members and ultimately the global coffee value chain. In helping to mitigate these impacts we can all work to ensure smallholder farmers livelihoods are protected, and that they can meet the growing market demand while producing coffee in a sustainable way to protect our fragile planet.”
Neil Willsher, CABI’s Global Director for Value Chains and Private Sector Business Development
This contribution forms part of a series called Meeting Members.
The words and images have been provided by CABI.
