Respect Coffee Farmers First: Why Producers Remain Poor While Non-Producers Grow Rich

In the global coffee economy, a painful contradiction stands out—the communities that grow the world’s most celebrated coffees are often the poorest, while young people in cities that have never produced a single coffee bean grow wealthier by roasting, branding, and selling it. This inequality is not accidental; it is structural, historical, and deeply embedded in how the value chain is designed.

The Producer’s Paradox

Across Africa, Latin America, and Asia, millions of youth grow up in coffee-producing villages. These are fertile lands where trees flower, cherries ripen, and hard work begins at sunrise. Yet these same communities frequently lack:

• Adequate income
• Modern processing equipment
• Access to roasting and retail markets
• Training, skills development, and fair opportunities

While the first step of the value chain—farming—demands the most labour, it remains the least rewarded. Young people watch their families toil year after year, yet the poverty cycle continues.

Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away in cities like Dubai, London, Tokyo, Berlin, Seoul, or New York, youth who have never grown a single coffee tree are building profitable roasting companies, cafés, and specialty coffee brands.

They benefit from:

• Advanced roasting technology
• Marketing infrastructure
• Global consumer markets
• Access to capital and entrepreneurship networks

The imbalance is obvious: the further you are from the farm, the more money you make.

“Respect the Beans”? Or Respect the People Behind Them?

Some influential coffee personalities in the global barista scene popularize the phrase “respect the beans.”
People like Dritan Alsela of “F**k Matcha” often emphasize the bean itself, as if the bean is the source of dignity in the industry. A Wrong ❌ approach!!

But beans are not human!
Beans do not wake up at 5am!
Beans do not struggle with school fees!
Beans do not carry water or prune trees!
Beans do not build nations!

Farmers do!!
And youth in coffee-growing communities do.

This language—“respect the beans”—romanticizes coffee while quietly removing farmers from the center of the narrative. It allows global actors to celebrate the product while ignoring the people who make the product possible.

Alfred Gitau Mwaura: “Respect the Farmers First.”

According to Kenya Coffee School Founder, GOOD Trade Certification co-creator, and Barista Mtaani founder Alfred Gitau Mwaura, the real transformation begins when the conversation shifts:

“Respect the Farmers First. They are the ones who deserve appreciation, recognition, and reward. Without the farmer, there is no bean to respect.”

This philosophy forms the backbone of:

Kenya Coffee Awards

A platform that honors farmers, youth, processors, baristas, and innovators—not as background actors but as leaders of the industry.

Kenya Coffee School (KCS)

Where youth are trained to transition from farm labour to professional careers in roasting, grading, barista work, and entrepreneurship.

GOOD Trade Certification

A farmer-centered, youth-focused, digital-first certification model that seeks to correct historical imbalances and place farmers at the heart of global pricing and recognition.

Why Youth in Producing Communities Remain Poor

The poverty of coffee-producing youth is not because they lack talent or ambition. It is because the value chain excludes them from:

• Roasting: where the largest margins are made
• Branding and packaging
• Export negotiations
• Direct-to-consumer sales
• Digital visibility and global storytelling

Farmers produce the raw material, but others own the narrative, the pricing power, and the global recognition.

Until youth in coffee communities are included in every stage—from farming to roasting, grading, packaging, and e-commerce—the inequality will continue.

A New Vision for Coffee

Because Farmers Deserve More Than Praise—They Deserve Power

Coffee cannot continue being a system where the producers remain poor, while those far from production become wealthy.

The future of coffee must be built on dignity, equity, and economic justice.

Only then can the global coffee industry claim to be truly responsible.