SuPER WE Coffee: Saved From Poverty

In the lush landscapes of southern Laos, the SuPER WE Coffee Project is opening the path toward a more equitable and sustainable future for women coffee farmers. With Laos positioned as the third largest coffee producer in Southeast Asia, coffee cultivation stands as a vital economic pillar for the nation, supporting the livelihoods of 40,000 families. Despite this, women, who are integral to coffee production, find themselves at a disadvantage, largely confined to the initial stages of the coffee value chain—production and processing. This disparity is especially pronounced among women from ethnic communities, who face significant barriers to climbing higher in the value chain, such as engaging with traders and marketing their products.

The European Union funded SWITCH-Asia SuPER WE Coffee project’s objective is to elevate the economic profitability, efficiency, and sustainability of coffee production by smallholder farmers, thereby harnessing coffee’s potential for poverty reduction and bolstering climate change resilience among rural populations. To achieve this, the initiative focuses on several key areas: developing and adopting less polluting, more resource-efficient, and circular products; enabling Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to integrate into global greener value and supply chains; assisting MSMEs in minimizing the environmental impact of their production; and enhancing resource efficiency through the adoption of circular economy practices.

This ambitious project aligns with the broader vision of empowering women in Laos, a country that, despite ranking 5th in the 2023 Global Gender Gap Report for equality in economic participation and opportunity, still grapples with significant hurdles to achieving gender equality. These obstacles include entrenched gender norms, limited educational opportunities and political empowerment, which collectively continue to pose barriers to women’s full and equal participation in public life.

By fostering an environment that supports women in meaningful decision-making and control over their futures, the SuPER WE Coffee project not only aims to address immediate economic disparities but also to instigate structural change. This endeavour seeks to dismantle the barriers that have historically held women back, enabling them to thrive as equal participants in the coffee sector and beyond.

Chandy Xayyaboun is a 42 year old farmer living in Dak Yoi Village, Dak Cheung District, Sekong Province. Before engaging with the SuPER WE Coffee project, she was a very small-scale coffee farmer. She did not have enough equipment for coffee cultivation, so the coffee trees she planted were less productive; they were not producing enough fruit to sustain the business. When collecting coffee for sale, the green or red cherries that contain the coffee bean would get mixed together, resulting in lower quality coffee. After drying the cherries until they were black, she sold them to traders who paid a very low price of 15,000 kip per basket. Without a deeper understanding of quality coffee production, Chandy’s income was at the mercy of the traders and whatever price they set. By selling the cherries without extracting the beans, she was not earning a substantial income.