Making good coffee is not a simple business.Coffee bushes must be grown in shade.A、hillside is best--but it mustn’t be too {{U}} (1) {{/U}}.After three years, the bushes will start to {{U}} (2) {{/U}} bright-red coffee "cherries", which are picked, processed to {{U}} (3) {{/U}} the inner part, and spread out to dry for days, {{U}} (4) {{/U}} on concrete. They are {{U}} (5) {{/U}} again to separate the bean, which needs to rest, preferably for a few months. Only then can it be roasted, ground and brewed {{U}} (6) {{/U}} the stuff that dreams are suppressed with. In Mexico and parts ofCentralAmerica, {{U}} (7) {{/U}} inColombia, most coffee farmers are smallholders. They found it especially hard to {{U}} (8) {{/U}} the recent fall in the coffee price. The {{U}} (9) {{/U}} of their income makes it hard for farmers to invest to {{U}} (10) {{/U}} their crop, says FernandoCelis. The fall forced many small farmers to {{U}} (11) {{/U}} other crops, or migrate to cities. For farmers, one way out of this {{U}} (12) {{/U}} is to separate the price they are paid {{U}} (13) {{/U}} the international commodities markets. This is the {{U}} (14) {{/U}} of Fair-trade, an organization which certifies products as "responsibly" sourceD、Fair-trade determines at what price farmers make what it considers a {{U}} (15) {{/U}} profit. Its current {{U}} (16) {{/U}} is that the appropriate figure is 10% above the market price. {{U}} (17) {{/U}}, sales of Fair-trade-certified coffee have increased from $ 22. 5m per year to $ 87m per year since 1998. This is still a tiny fraction of the overall world coffee trade, worth $10 billion {{U}} (18) {{/U}}But there are plenty of other markets for high-quality coffee. Some small producers can {{U}} (19) {{/U}} more by marketing their coffee as organic or "bird-friendly" because, unlike large, mechanized plantations, they have {{U}} (20) {{/U}} shade trees. |