Golden Triangle Shade Grown Coffee http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-triangle-shade-grown-coffee/ Times are changing in the Golden Triangle, the region in Southeast Asia famous for growing poppies for heroin. Farmers are switching to coffee! Voice of America reports the some farmers drop poppies for coffee beans in this region and why. For 54-year-old farmer Long San, growing opium makes simple economic sense. He started planting poppies – which produce the resin that can be manufactured into heroin – eight years ago when the market for his traditional cash-crop collapsed. Like most people in Long Tway village, in the steep hills of Myanmar’s southern Shan State, he used to plant his fields with cheroot leaves, which are used to roll cigars. “After I switched to opium I could make about $2,500 (3 million kyat) a year,” he said. “With cheroot leaves I was only making $250 (300,000 kyat).” Despite the windfall, Long San and other farmers in this area interviewed by VOA now say that opium’s inconsistent yields, the soil erosion caused by deforesting the hills to plant poppies, and the threat of government eradication programs mean they are willing to abandon the illicit crop. Since late last year, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has been recommending coffee as the replacement. We know that when coffee farmers use the sorts of sustainable methods used for organic coffee that soil erosion is prevented. Sustainable income is more likely when the government is not going to come in and destroy your crop in drug enforcement raids. Will Golden Triangle shade grown coffee be good? Coffee in Indochina Last year we wrote about coffee in Vietnam. The highlands of Vietnam, Laos and Burma (Myanmar) are natural areas for growing coffee.

1. Golden Triangle
Shade Grown Coffee
By
www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org

2. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Times are changing in the Golden Triangle,
the region in Southeast Asia famous for
growing poppies for heroin.

3. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Voice of America reports that some

4. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
farmers drop poppies for coffee beans in
this region and why.

5. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
For 54-year-old farmer Long San, growing
opium makes simple economic sense.

6. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
He started planting poppies - which produce
the resin that can be manufactured into
heroin - eight years ago when the market for
his traditional cash-crop collapsed. Like
most people in Long Tway village, in the
steep hills of Myanmar’s southern Shan
State, he used to plant his fields with
cheroot leaves, which are used to roll
cigars.

7. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
“After I switched to opium I could make
about $2,500 (3 million kyat) a year,” he
said. “With cheroot leaves I was only
making $250 (300,000 kyat).”

8. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Despite the windfall, Long San and other
farmers in this area interviewed by VOA now
say that opium’s inconsistent yields, the soil
erosion caused by deforesting the hills to
plant poppies, and the threat of government
eradication programs mean they are willing
to abandon the illicit crop.

9. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Since late last year, the United Nations
Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has
been recommending coffee as the
replacement.

10. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
We know that when coffee farmers use the
sorts of sustainable methods used for
organic coffee than soil erosion is
prevented.

11. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Sustainable income is more likely when the
government is not going to come in and
destroy your crop in drug enforcement raids.
Will Golden Triangle shade grown coffee be
good?

12. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Coffee in Indochina

13. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Last year we wrote about coffee in Vietnam.
The highlands of Vietnam, Laos and Burma
(Myanmar) are natural areas for growing
coffee.

14. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Vietnam is the second greatest coffee
producer in the world. Only Brazil grows
more coffee. But Vietnam grows primarily
Robusta coffee as opposed to Arabica
coffee grown throughout the Americas.
Robusta coffee has more coffee per bean
and is a more bitter coffee than Arabica.

15. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Coffee was introduced to Vietnam in 1857
when the French were the colonial masters
of French Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia
and Laos). The costal highlands that run the
length of this 1000 mile long country are
ideal for coffee production.

16. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Thus when you ask for coffee in Vietnam
you always get it with a layer of sweetened
condensed milk layered on top. The drink is
very strong and very sugary. Coffee in
Vietnam is served hot or cold.

17. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Vietnam was reunified in 1975 at the end of
the French colonial period and then the
Vietnam War. The government promoted
coffee production and exports. By the 21st
century coffee was only surpassed by rice
as a Vietnamese export.

18. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
As the government works to subsidize
coffee production in the Golden Triangle as
well as work to eradicate poppy production
the Golden Triangle should be able to
produce comparable amounts of shade
grown coffee to Laos and Vietnam.

19. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Preserving the Rain
Forest

20. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
In our article about coffee in Laos we
mentioned the cooperatives that are
responsible for much of the organic coffee
production.

21. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Traditionally coffee in this area has been grown
by tried and true organic methods although in
the last generation more “modern” production
techniques have also been introduced.
Nevertheless, businesses such as the Jhai
Coffee Farmers Co-operative and retailers such
as Canadian owned Joma Bakery work with
local growers and continue to produce and sell
organic whole bean coffee grown in the
highlands of Laos.

22. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Although four fifths of the coffee grown in the
Laotian highlands is Robusta much of Laotian
organic coffee is Arabica. In 2005 Jhai Coffee
Farmers Co-operative was certified as a
producer of USDA organic coffee which has
helped local farmers command a higher price for
their beans and helped them provide a higher
standard of living for their workers whose
income is almost entirely derived from the coffee
harvest.

23. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
The cooperative produces virtually all of its
Laotian organic coffee in the shade thus
maintaining a sustainable environment for
coffee production, habitat and soil
maintenance, and avoidance of
contaminants that commonly are found in
regular coffees.

24. http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1438/golden-
triangle-shade-grown-coffee/
Our wish is that Golden Triangle shade
grown coffee is able to compete
economically with other growers in the
region and produce high quality organic
coffee.