Documentary Video Black Gold - Essay Example

Black Gold” Coffee All around the world, coffee is one of the largest consumed commodities. It is believed that coffee gives you a head start to the day. In every liquid we sip, it gives us adrenalin and relaxation in our minds. It is also known for its health benefits like the anti-oxidant that is found in this beans. But have we ever wondered what this product has gone through before it is being brought to our tables and being consumed? Have we ever figured out the trail of our coffee before we enjoy every sip of it? The documentary video “Black Gold” is a story of unfair trade of coffee in the International Market and how coffee farmers in Ethiopia suffer from hunger and deprivation while large coffee companies earns billions of dollars every year because of the “precious” coffee beans. Retail sales from coffee have increased to $80 billion. While many big companies are enjoying the benefit of this profit, many of the coffee farmers in Ethiopia prostrate to poverty, no clean water to drink, can’t send their children to school, and can’t even afford to buy a pair of shoes despite of the fact that Ethiopia is Africa’s top Arabica coffee exporter and known to be the origins of most coffee. This is simply because of the unfair trade of coffee between the developing countries and the first world. The coffee farmers only receive the amount of 3 cents per kilo from their coffee products, not getting a fair reward from their hard work. Their coffee products will go to a series of trading wherein various middlemen will participate to the trading. Many of the middlemen composed of the coffee collectors, coffee suppliers, and coffee exporters do the bidding of these coffee products. Each multi-national companies like Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, Kraft, and Sara Lee has a representative in the trading. The 2 auction price is mainly based on New York ‘C’ market and they are the one who regulate the price of the coffee in the International Market, which means that if the price of the coffee in New York market is 5 cents per kilo, then the price for the coffee will be 5 cents per kilo. From the middlemen, after placing their bids, the coffee product will be sold to coffee exporters and the exporters will then sell the coffee product to the roasters after which will be purchased by the retailers/cafes before it goes to the consumers. The coffee farmers would have benefited more from their product if their product will be directly bought to them by these retailers. The issue on passing of product from one supplier to another made their product poorly priced. And despite they are one of the top coffee producing country in the world, Ethiopia remain to be one of the poorest country being dependent on the foreign aid. Because of their desperation to live, these coffee farmers of Ethiopia had diverted to planting chat (narcotic plant) which grows twice a year in their land instead of coffee tree which needs 5 years of nurturing to produce fine beans. For every 30 branches of chat they sell, they are earning $4, incomparable amount than selling coffee beans. Another issue is the unfair trade of Ethiopian coffee and other products of the developing countries. In the documentary, the World Trade Organization has set rules for global trade wherein all participating trader will get their fair trade. However, the rule set by WTO for global trade was believed to be ‘manipulated’ by ‘few’ people and the fair trade issue that supposed to be resolved remained to be unsettled. Ethiopia being one of the poorest countries doesn’t receive subsidiaries. And 3 because of this issue no one can protect or supplement the income of farmers and so, the coffee farmers remained to be poor. Infrastructures like schools are also neglected. Classrooms have no quality blackboards to write on and no enough chairs for the students. In an article about the review on “Black Gold” many government and international bodies have ‘awakened’ to this documentary about the crisis in coffee trade. Trade policies and developments are being debated and screened by political institutions such as the World Bank in Washington, European Union in Brussels, and the United Nations in New York. However, the issue about the crisis is still ongoing. In the latest statistics of International Coffee Organization in their October – September 2010 Total Production of exporting countries statistics, Ethiopia with a total production of 7,450 bags is far way behind Columbia with a total production of 9,000 bags. In the February 2011 statistics for the breakdown of exports of Green Arabica and Green Robusta, Ethiopia is not included in the top 9 countries who exports with significant volume. Contradictory to the review made to the documentary that after the film has been released, the Ethiopian coffee has ‘increased’ in price from $1.45 per pound to a minimum of $2.30 per pound, and the Ethiopian Union has ‘tripled’ the amount of money being paid back to 130,000 Ethiopian farmers. If this was the case, how come there are inconsistencies in the latest data provided by ICO and the article released for this documentary? This only implies that the struggle of the Ethiopian coffee farmers to achieve fair trade for their coffee product in the International Market has not yet ended unless these political institutions who are debating about trade policies and development 4 will be true to their acts and will not allow to be intervened and manipulated by these ‘few’ people. The documentary “Black Gold” has raised many good points about how coffee trading is being held in Ethiopia however these good points were not fully answered. Like in the part 2 and 3 of the 8 part documentary, it was stated there how these middlemen of the big companies manipulated the trading of the Ethiopian coffee product. But it never mentioned as to why Ethiopian coffee farmers allowed this kind of trading where in fact, they will be the one who will get benefited if they will not allow the middlemen to intervene in the trading. Another good point if the findings were properly investigated is the price of the coffee product as it goes to one supplier to another. What difference will it make in terms to the income of the Ethiopian coffee farmers if they will go directly to these retailers and sell their products? In the part 6 and 7 of the 8 part documentary, Mr. Meskala, representative of the Ethiopian coffee farmers, visited some groceries; he only saw one type of Ethiopian coffee which is sidamo that is being sold in the market. It was not clearly explained in the documentary as to where are their product being sold and who consumes their coffee products after it is being traded in Ethiopia. It was also mentioned that Ethiopia being one of the poorest countries has not received subsidiaries. And that to, was not clearly explained as to why they don’t have subsidiaries. These good points that were being raised were not clearly explained. It would have been a better documentary if all areas of the story were being touched by the directors of the film. This documentary supposed to give the viewers the information 5 with the basis of proofs and evidences to support it capturing the ‘unaware’ facts and give the audience realistic and true story. However, in the film, they provided only the information but did not justify the ‘unaware’ facts of the documentary. The film “Black Gold” gave an open mind on how other people behind the coffee products are suffering while we enjoy the taste and the aroma of the coffee. In the scene which is in the part 2 of the 8 part documentary, it effectively shown the way Ethiopian coffee farmers live and hoping for simple things in life and that is to achieve a good life, nutritious food, clean water to drink, and to send their children in school. These are the things Ethiopian coffee farmers are hopeful. They didn’t even mention of having fashionable clothes to wear or big houses to live in. All that matters to them is for them to get away from starvation and to live. This documentary in some way is a good film especially if all the ‘unaware’ facts will be resolved to help these Ethiopian farmers alleviate their way of living. Somehow, it touched the lives of all the coffee lovers who have watched the film and maybe, in every sip that they make to their cup of coffee, they would now appreciate the goodness of every cup through the realization of the hardships of the farmers who produced the beans and how the coffee trail started and how it ends in your coffee cup. And this issue must not stop from just viewing this film. 6 Works Cited “Black Gold”. Dailymotion. Web. 2009 “Coffee”. National Geographic. Web.1996 “Trade Statistics”. International Coffee Organization. Web. 2011 “Black Gold Wake Up and Smell the Coffee”. Blackgoldmovie. Web “Documentary Films”. Suite 101. Web. 2009 Read More