Foreign coffee growers plea for more fair trade

By Brannon Stewart, WALB News (Albany, GA)

Plains- Americus coffee roaster owner Bill Harris led small coffee farmers through the boyhood home of Jimmy Carter Wednesday.

"This is a poem he wrote about growing up on the farm," Harris told the group.

The coffee growers have that in common with America's 39th President. They're in Georgia representing thousands of small coffee farmers and making a plea for more fair trade with the U.S. Without it, they say, many people in their countries will keep suffering.

"They cannot meet school fees for their kids, hospital bills for their kids, all the basic essentials," said Raymond Kimaro from Tanzania.

"There aren't many options out deep in the mountains of Guatemala," Harris said. "And coffee is one thing that will grow there that can be exported."

Harris is the president of Cooperative Coffees, one of the U.S. groups spreading the word about fair trade. He also owns Cafe' Campesino in Americus, where he pays more to buy his beans.

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