Mojo Coffee helping rebuild Vanuatu

Transcript

A New Zealand coffee chain is using the last beans grown in pre-cyclone Vanuatu to help rebuild the country's devastated coffee industry.

Mojo Coffee has created a single-origin Vanuatu coffee and is teaming up with World Vision to raise money.  

It is the first time World Vision have partnered with a private company.

Bridget Grace has more.  

When Mojo Coffee bought a container of Vanuatu green beans last year, it was just another pile of beans destined for grinding and blending.  But in March, Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu, destroying the local coffee industry, as well as much of the country's infrastructure.  Mojo Coffee founder Steve Gianoutsos realised that by chance Mojo had bought some of the last Vanuatu coffee.

STEVE GIANOUTSOS:  Oh I had a feeling that was going to be the case when you could see Cyclone Pam coming in.  Once we got news of the devastation that happened in Tanna Island, I knew that I had almost, pretty much had the last of the coffee.  

Mr Gianoutsos says the idea to help popped in his head and he picked up the phone and rang World Vision.  He was inspired to create a single-origin Vanuatu coffee blend from the remaining beans, with all the profits going to help the coffee farmers of Tanna island.

STEVE GIANOUTSOS:  Really it's to help our neighbours, Vanuatu is part of New Zealand support, it's as close as what you'd get to it being a local coffee, so the South Pacific, that's our back door.

Mojo says NGO's and private companies and NGO's need to work together better.  The union means eight dollars from every 250 gram bag of Vanuatu coffee sold goes to help the farmers.  World Vision's CEO Chris Clarke says the aim is to build sustainable and resilient communities as it is a certainty more storms will come.  

CHRIS CLARKE:  The first stage is basically to get those 400 small-holder farmers back on their feet.  The second thing we want to do over the medium term is actually help grow their incomes, and these are very poor communities that we're working with.  Thirdly, our big ambition is to see if we can't produce some of the best coffee in the world which would be fabulous for Tanna, fabulous for Vanuatu.

Quality is an important consideration for any coffee connoisseur, so where better to sample the brew than New Zealand's coffee capital.

BRIDGET GRACE:  I just spied you buying the bag of Vanuatu coffee, why is that?

CUSTOMER:  Well I have the choice of buying the normal Mojo coffee or the Vanuatu coffee and between the two I know the Vanuatu ones is going to be equally as good so I might as well do something that's going to help some people out.

With no Vanuatu coffee being produced any time soon, Mr Gianoutsos isn't worried about running out.

STEVE GIANOUTSOS:  Hopefully yes, because I mean if we can sell the coffee quickly then we can raise the funds we need to make a difference on the ground so the sooner the coffee goes the better.

Coffee specialists, Mojo Coffee and World Vision are visiting Vanuatu this week meeting Tanna's coffee farmers and trying to find out what is needed to help them pull through.