Insights
The coronavirus crisis has us firmly in its grip. At gebana, the virus has affected us in different ways. We’re working from home, direct shipping sales have increased, and in the South, a reduced number of people are working in processing, for safety reasons. Each day, we adapt to the situation and try to make the best of it.
Burkina Faso's healthcare system has been weak for years. Right now, no one knows how this system will cope with the coronavirus. But there's still some good news.
For gebana Togo a successful year is slowly coming to an end. During this year, gebana Togo worked with more female farmers than ever before and acquired some new exciting customers. A new EU regulation might have had something to do with the latter.
At the beginning of 2019 we tried something new in Togo: With an app, we wanted to improve and above all simplify the flow of information between family farmers and gebana. Michael Stamm, member of our development team, talks about the experiment and how we will continue.
Our project, co-financed by Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), is coming to an end. We asked some of the participating producers about the impact our work has had on them.
The situation remains dire in the Zapatista areas in Chiapas, Mexico, where our coffee cooperative Yachil Xojobal Chulchán is located. After a serious fungal infestation on the coffee plantations, they are now besieged by paramilitaries. Merely leaving one’s home is considered dangerous.
Something is happening in Brazil. More and more farmers are turning their backs on deadly pesticides. The Brazilian television station "Rede Globo" presented a piece about gebana Brazil and its organic farmers, which you can view with English subtitles here.
I am Bianca Trevino, 34 years old, born in the USA. I started working for gebana in July 2018. After a year of planning, my partner – Michael Stamm, who also works for gebana – and I decided to move to West Africa. Not an easy decision with an infant (our son Mateo was nine months old at the time). Our life in Benin and Togo is nothing but ordinary, yet fully extraordinary. I am excited to share our experiences with you here in the future.
After about 9 months under relatively hard living conditions in the north of Benin we packed our stuff and moved to Togo. The reason for this big step is a structural change in gebana Benin. In other words: the gebana group is not a shareholder of gebana Benin anymore but only a long-term client. Consequently, my full presence was not needed anymore.
After spending some time in Lomé, Togo, in February to find the right home, we started to pack all our stuff! Fortunately, we carefully had kept all the boxes from the previous move and things went quite fast.
In part two of our interview with Patrick Eboe, Managing Director of gebana Togo, and Michael Stamm from the gebana Development Team, we talk about poverty, minimum prices and our local activities aimed at helping to improve the situation.
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