Peace Winds Japan Annual Report FY2002

Peace Winds Japan
2-11-5 Sakurashinmachi,
Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 154-0015
Japan

Telephone: +81-3-5451-5400
Facsimilie: +81-3-5451-5401
www.peace-winds.org
meet@peace-winds.org

Special Appreciation to
Our Volunteer Translators:
Noriko Inaba
Yoshikazu Hirano
Anna Kojima

Annual Report FY2002 Top
Message From the Chairperson
Iraq and Afghanistan
Mongolia
Indonesia
East Timor
Sierra Leone
Activities in Japan
Focusing on the Future
Major Activities in FY2002
List of Overseas Offices
Time Line
Organizational Structure
Financial Statement for FY2002

PWJ English Top

East Timor

Empowering Farmers for Sustainable Living

Since 1999, the year that East Timor was in turmoil for liberation from Indonesia, Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) has continued its operations in humanitarian aid. After becoming a legitimate member of the international community in May 2002, East Timor is now facing the task to also attain economic independence.

East Timor's economy, now cut loose from Indonesia, is fragile. For East Timor, aside from oil and gas in the Timor Sea, coffee is the only dependable source of income. Therefore, strengthening the coffee industry is at present the country's foremost task. One serious problem that coffee farmers face is that they have little pricing power. Here, farmers have long sold harvested raw coffee fruit directly to agricultural cooperatives, since they have no proper means of processing coffee beans.

PWJ intends to assist coffee farmers in acquiring the skills to refine their post-harvest process, so that they may add market value to their products. Envisioning competitive export of coffee to international markets, we also feel the need to provide necessary assistance to enhance the farmers' understanding on the importance of quality control and to help increase their coffee crops.

Such activities will officially start in FY2003. During FY2002 PWJ investigated a variety of issues ranging from refinement of coffee beans to offshore coffee markets, marketing channels, and coffee producers' life styles. This coming autumn, we will be importing initial coffee beans produced and processed by the local farmers under our support. In addition to support in coffee production, PWJ is planning to confront the problem of malnutrition, especially visible in the uplands. We will be offering technical assistance in farming and cultivation of nutritious agricultural and livestock products, such as eggs and beans.

Coffee Production.. at a Glance

The refining process of coffee is complicated and highly sensitive. In East Timor, coffee beans are harvested in the dry season, from May to August. Only the well-ripened fruit (red cherries) may be reaped in order to produce high-grade coffee. Next, the outer pulp is removed from the cherries and subsequently the beans are parched pale brown (parchment). Through a treatment of threshing, parchments are then refined into green beans, which are thereafter roasted into the dark-brown color commonly seen in daily life.