Highlights
- Mozambique’s Gorongosa Coffee Role in National Park restoration while uplifting local communities.
- Indigenous tree planting alongside coffee cultivation promotes reforestation and environmental sustainability.
- Coffee income transforms lives, enabling families to access education and essential resources.
- The project’s success story showcases the power of ethical coffee production for conservation and community development.
- Gorongosa coffee expands its influence across borders, contributing to regional growth and international collaboration.
Mozambique’s Gorongosa Coffee
Coffee Role in National Park Restoration : Africa, known as the birthplace of coffee, has a new contender in the coffee world: Mozambique. The nation has recently joined the International Coffee Organization with a commitment to producing coffee sustainably and ethically.
Coffee Role in National Park Restoration
Central to Mozambique’s coffee ambitions is the Gorongosa Coffee Project, initiated in 2013 with a dual purpose – reforesting the 1,500 square-mile Gorongosa National Park and uplifting local communities. This area is not only home to iconic African wildlife like elephants and lions but also around 200,000 people.
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Juliasse Sabao
Supervisor of the Gorongosa Coffee Project, explains that before coffee, many locals were subsistence farmers with limited surplus to sell. Through the project, they were encouraged to cultivate coffee while planting indigenous trees alongside it to restore the park’s forest cover.
Project Growth
The project has grown from involving just 10 families to over 1,000 in a decade. The positive impact is evident as coffee provides additional income for families, enabling them to afford education, uniforms, and basic necessities.
Reforestation and Community Engagement
While the Gorongosa Coffee Project is a for-profit venture, it places equal importance on reforestation and community engagement. Sofia Molina, head of the project, emphasizes that profit alone is not sustainable; other motives, such as reforestation and community development, are equally vital.
Reforestation is particularly critical, as the park has suffered from degradation due to natural disasters, human conflict, and development, endangering the unique biodiversity of the area.
Molina underscores the importance of considering the source of one’s coffee, urging consumers to think about the families behind the labor-intensive coffee production and their dependency on coffee income.
Pride Of Country
The success of Gorongosa coffee has transformed it into Mozambique’s largest coffee producer and a source of pride for the country. The project’s positive ripple effect extends to building schools, training teachers, and creating safe spaces for local girls, encouraging them to complete their studies and avoid child marriages.
International Growth
Gorongosa coffee is not only benefiting Mozambique but is also making strides across borders, with plans to expand to neighboring countries like Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi, and Kenya. The project’s impact reaches beyond coffee production, as it welcomes farmers from other countries to learn from its model and sends its experts abroad to share their knowledge.
Conclusion and Sustainability
This Mozambican coffee story showcases the potential of coffee as a catalyst for positive change, blending environmental sustainability, economic empowerment, and cross-border collaboration.
