Our Approach & Example Activities :

It's About the Money:

1. preharvest financing
2. training in accounting
3. helping cooperatives to build working capital (no more 36% interest loans!!)

Preharvest financing backstory: coffee harvests around the world spans months. The coffee harvest in Haiti begins as early as September on lower elevations. Harvesting continues up the mountain where highest elevations are picked as late as April. Coffee exports in late spring.

Pay Me NOW: When farmers bring cherries into cooperatives, they expect to be paid immediately for their goods. And yet, those cherries won't ship until the harvest is complete. Farmer cooperatives, usually, ONLY get paid by the exporter when the cherries ship. Some farmers are willing to defer payment until the harvest ships/co-ops get paid - but in some instances, corruption intervenes& farmers never get paid.

This brings about an interesting situation: how can farmer cooperatives pay for cherries being brought in across weeks when they, themselves, won't be paid for MONTHS?

Answer: most can't. That's why farmers sell to coyotes (Dominicans who travel across the border for valuable coffee) at lower prices because it's a bird in the hand. There are amazing institutions like Root Capital who provides access to capital (plus they offer invaluable financial training and assistance with hooking up farmers & buyers). However, most small scale cooperatives can't meet the basic requirements for support and turn to other lending agencies in Haiti where the going interest rates range from 25-36%.

A better answer: help farmer cooperatives to reserve their own capital.

How? We have no idea but we do have a loose plan: our system for helping to build working capital varies / depends on the strengths and goals of the cooperative. Our current ways include:

1. providing interest-free, preharvest loans (cannot tell you how popular we are in Haiti)
   
2. requiring the savings from that interest-free loan be put towards working capital
   
3. helping cooperatives to open bank accounts, teaching them basic accounting, putting into place anti-corruption measures, e.g., more than 1 trustworthy person on the account
   
4. helping to establish coffee seedling nurseries (seedlings become a GREAT source of money)
   
5. providing access to equipment that facilitates production (no more paying the big co-ops for jobs small scale co-ops can now do on their own)
   
6. seed money & assistance for business start-ups (strong co-ops are ready to create new businesses & we help them to achieve their goals).

We can crow all day - but the proof is in our work. Here are some case studies.

Coffee Seedlings are Reforesting Haiti

It is reported that HALF of Haiti's forested lands ARE coffee trees. Their wide-spread root structure make them an ideal plant to hold delicate, mountain side soil.

The coffee cherries are an added bonus: jobs and income for exceptionally poor people.

Our farmer partners use the sale of coffee seedlings to create working capital.

Coffee Seedling Nursery above Marigot : Joint Project funded by Singing Rooster, Solidarité-Haïti, and farmer cooperative (proceeds from the Rooster's coffee sales)

Marigot

Singing Rooster is assisting a coffee farmer cooperative above Marigot - high in the mountains.

Of all of our projects, this is our largest: equipment repair, improving coffee quality through training, training in small business management.

Our work in this area is partially supported by BID -- Bank Interamerican of Development and the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture's DEFI's program.

Dondon

2011 matching grant to repair and upgrade final processing facility.

2012 matching grant to establish coffee-cupping laboratory.

Beaumont

Singing Rooster is assisting a coffee farmer cooperative in Beaumont (Haiti's largely untapped coffee mecca) to repair a coffee washing station.

We've also connected this cooperative to the new, secondary processing plan in Cavallion.

Jeremie's Roosters, er Roasters

The Rooster's Molly Nicaise is assisting a group of women to launch a coffee roasting business in Jeremie.

Molly is helping to design their brand, label, and promotional materials: timadamn.com

Les Cayes

The Rooster is helping a newly formed network and coffee association launch a quality production program.

Cavallion - Roasting Co. Startup

Coffee farming is a tough business. You're bound to the weather, market, and ethics of others.

Increasing the commercial capacities of producer groups is what drives us.

In that vein, We're helping a well-organize coffee cooperative, RECOCAS, to launch a coffee roasting start-up for the domestic market.

By helping to increase commercial capacities of producer groups, we're helping with long-term economic stability: co-ops can STOP getting high interest loans from banks by saving their own working capital.

RECOCAS spent months writing and then defending a business plan for a country-wide competition for entrepreneurs.

We couldn't be more thrilled - their MONTHS of hard work has paid off.

RECOCAS won a national competition & will receive seed money for their roasting company start-up.

They'll soon be selling small satchels of coffee on the domestic market ... and beyond?

What's next? We'll help them purchase equipment & assist with marketing.

Singing Rooster's assistance was minimal but provided essential help with their business plan (special attention to the financials) and with marketing, including assistance with developing a product label.

The president of the co-op feels that giving the panel of judges a physical product example, pushed their plan over the edge.

This is EXACTLY the type of assistance we love giving -- minimal guidance to ideas born by co-ops. Autonomy is a beautiful thing.

Equipment Upgrade Coaching

Living in Haiti is difficult. Subsistence living requires daily gathering of water & food and this leaves little time for else.

That's where the Rooster comes in -- we're able to efficiently research equipment options, help with financing, and import equipment for farmers.

To illustrate, we were able to show a farmer co-op in the Artibonite the cost-savings of discontinuing the out-sourcing of deparching to a rich processing plant & instead put money aside for their own deparcher. We found an inexpensive deparcher and offered a matching grant for the purchase of this machine. In 3 years time, this co-op will have paid for the machine & will put that cost-savings towards future equipment upgrades.

L'Artibonite

We're offering 3 matching grants with 3 farmer cooperatives that focus on:

1. coffee seedling nurseries
2. farmer training on quality production
3. small business management training

We're incredibly thankful to the French organization, InterAide, for their invaluable work with coffee farmers in this area. By working together, we're helping the farmers to sell their coffee & strengthen their skills in agriculture and business management.

Thiotte

Pine forests of Thiotte produce awesome coffee

Because Singing Rooster provided interest-free, pre-harvest credit, the cooperative saved THOUSANDS. The Rooster then works with the cooperative to reinvest the savings into improving coffee production and business management skills.

National Platform

Frito Merizier (center, white shirt, tan pants) was instrumental in advocating the importance of a national platform for coffee farmers.

Frito died from an asthma attack last spring.

We miss him greatly and will help his young children to remember how much he was loved and how hard he worked on behalf of his community.

The Rooster traveled to Port au Prince in August, 2012 to attend a forum where coffee farmers across Haiti are organizing a national platform:

Plate-Forme Nationale des Producteurs de Cafe d’ Haiti (PNPCH)

We miss you Frito

In August of 2012, Farmers paid tribute to Frito by continuing what he began: organized farmers = voice