Bewley's is to spend close to €1 million buying ethically produced coffee from a leading Nicaraguan grower under the terms of a deal announced this week.
The coffee roaster and distributor said it will buy €300,000 worth of coffee annually for the next three years from Henry Hueck's Ramacafe farm in Matagalpa, northern Nicaragua.
According to Bewley's managing director, Jim Corbett, the Irish company will pay Ramacafe a premium to the market price for its product. Bewley's estimates that this mark up will be 30 per cent above the going rate.
The deal is an extension of an existing relationship that has seen Ramacafe become the exclusive supplier of coffee for Bewley's Explore Nicaragua brand.
Sales to Bewley's will account for around half of Ramacafe's annual production, while in turn, the Nicaraguan operation will supply in the region of 1 per cent of Bewley's annual volume, according to Mr Corbett.
The company has also committed to buying coffee from a nearby small producers' co-op, SOPPEXCCA, based in Jinotega.
Mr Hueck told The Irish Times that the deal would help underpin up to 1,100 seasonal jobs at his two estates, which total 406 hectares, along with 100 permanent workers and their families.
"During the harvest, we have 700 people at this estate - La Virgen - and 400 on the other farm, San Martin, and normally we have 100 families here all year round," he said.
Ramacafe recently won accreditation from Utz Kapeh, an independent Netherlands-based organisation that certifies large coffee producers for ethical management, work and environmental practices.
The farm also earned certification from the Rainforest Alliance and US chain Starbucks, which operates its own ethical producers programme.
These certifications are based on paying workers fair wages and ensuring their health and safety, along with ensuring best practice in environmental management.
Ramacafe's operation provides education for workers' children, and a medical clinic for its workers. In addition, around 150 hectares of the property is given over to natural forest, a key issue in a region that is losing a high proportion of its forest.
Development Co-operation Ireland (DCI) a division of the Department of Foreign Affairs, provides support for Ramacafe's education, medical and health and safety initiatives.
Conor Lenihan, the Minister of State for Development and Human Rights, was at the announcement of the deal at Ramacafe this week. He said that due to the recent Government pledge to spend the equivalent of 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on overseas development, Irish support for regions such as Central America would increase.
"We would like to see initiatives like this transplanted to other regions," he said.
The commitment to 0.7 per cent of GDP on development aid means that, at current levels of economic growth, the Republic's budget will be in the region of €1.5 billion.
