As we wait for our 2024 lots to land in the UK and reflect on this year’s harvest in Timor-Leste, we thought now would be a good time to open up a discussion about organic certification. I mean, we must be organically certified right? The name of our company is Karst Organics after all so surely our coffees are certified organic? Just to be clear, they aren’t.
Firstly, we are not opposed to organic certification and we understand that there are certain coffee producing origins where chemical pesticides and fertilisers are used. In cases such as this, an effective way to distinguish coffee that has been grown with natural fertilisers from coffee which has been exposed to chemical fertilisers or pesticides is through organic certification.
Secondly, we support the idea that farmers have an opportunity to sell their coffee at a higher price through gaining certification as this reflects the extra work required to farm through natural practices such as the time-consuming preparation of organic fertilisers and environmentally conscious waste water management.
‘So why don’t you have organic certification then?’, we hear you ask. That’s a fair question and we’re happy to explain why we haven’t chosen to become organically certified at this time.
Just to clarify, we are only talking about the context of Timor-Leste. We are not in a position to comment about other origins so the views that we are presenting here are specific to the origin where we have lived and worked since 2016.
How do you differentiate between farmers who use pesticides and those who don’t?
Timor-Leste’s lack of development due to its complicated and difficult past has meant that little investment or interest has been given to the agricultural sector and more specifically, the coffee industry, its second largest export after oil. Fortuitously or not, this means that ‘Timor-Leste coffee is simply organic by default, meaning that no inorganic fertilisers or chemical inputs such as pesticides are used to produce the coffees. Timor-Leste may be the only country in the world that produces exclusively “organic coffee”’ (National Coffee Sector: Development Plan, Timor-Leste 2019-2030, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries). We use the phrase ‘fortuitously or not’ as it remains to be seen whether or not the country can use this to its advantage or the reality is that developing the sector with an ‘organic by default’ model isn’t sustainable in terms of productivity and commercial fertilisers may need to be used in the future. Of course, we hope that the former wins out over the latter but time will tell here.
In addition to the historical and political context, there is also the cultural aspect to consider. If you’ve had a look around our new website, you’ll have seen that the Timorese have a special relationship with their environment. Their traditional animist beliefs lie at the heart of how communities’ function and this fundamentally starts with a deep-rooted respect for Mother Nature. The thought of adding chemicals to the soil that nourishes the coffee plants and other crops that serve as daily food staples is an abhorrent thought to the farmers in Letefoho whom we have discussed this topic with. Again, this may change going forward as we are fully aware that tradition and culture can be impacted by so called ‘developmental’ activities.
But don’t farmers get paid more for their organically certified coffee?
Firstly, in the context of Timor-Leste, it is the company that’s obtaining the organic certification, not the farmers themselves.
The only company that we know of also working in Letefoho and buying parchment (which went on to be processed as certified organic green beans), paid $3.50 per kg during the 2024 harvest which is exactly the same price that we paid this year. We were recently approached by a cooperative in another district of Timor-Leste who want to start a working relationship with us because they were being paid $3.00 per kg for their parchment that was then sold as organically certified speciality green coffee (unfortunately we won’t be able to form a partnership as we only work out of Letefoho and do not have the capacity or resources to work in other locations currently).
The reality is that a smallholder farmer in Timor-Leste with 1.5 hectares of coffee forest, cannot afford to certify their coffee as organic. Therefore, it is the company who supports the farmer and pays for the auditing process, who then determines the price they pay for the coffee. Some companies may pay a good price, and some may pay less as with the examples given above. What is certain, is that in Timor-Leste, coffee that goes on to be sold as certified organic does not guarantee the farmer is paid more than they might have done if they had sold their parchment to another company who hasn’t invested in organic certification.
So how much does it cost to become certified organic?
We have been quoted an initial cost of $6,000 (subject to increase depending on the scope of our requirement) from a company who works in the region, which would cover the 7 groups that we work with. Travel and accommodation costs would also need to be covered by us for any representatives of the company that would come to Timor-Leste to complete the audit which is estimated to take 8 – 9 days. Based on 1 person visiting to complete the audit, we would estimate a total cost of around $7,500 per year.
Not only is this a considerable annual cost but also – we feel – an unnecessary expense at this time, given Timor-Leste’s current status as possibly the only country in the world that produces exclusively organic coffee. For this reason, we have chosen to prioritise our investment at farm level through providing materials and training to process speciality coffee of exceptional standard and believe that through elevating coffee quality, we are able to pay a higher price for our partner farmers’ coffee.
Final thoughts
Fundamentally, it is our belief that the word ‘organic’ can be used as an independent adjective when speaking about coffee and shouldn’t always be synonymously associated with the word ‘certification’. We hope that roasters and their customers will continue to do their due diligence and fully understand the context of an origin before deeming it necessary for certification to prove that pesticides were not used in the production and processing of a coffee.
As we have already stated, we are not opposed to the idea of organic certification provided that it serves as a force for good to protect the environment, reassures roasters that no pesticides were involved in the processing of a certain coffee and most importantly allows producers a better price for the extra work involved in the farming of organic coffees. We will continue to monitor the development of Timor-Leste’s agricultural sector and if we feel that we need certification to ensure confidence in the above points, we will certainly consider applying.
Drop us an e-mail if you would like to discuss any points raised in this article or check out ‘Timor-Leste’s National Coffee Sector Development Plan 2019 – 2030’.