Origination of Doi Chaang Coffee.
"Doi Chaang Coffee" was originated serveral years ago in the land of high mountains in the north of Thailand by thai hiltride people of Doi Chaang Village who gathered together and established a coffee company of their own. We had developed coffee cultivation and processing systems continuously for more than 20 years. However, we had to suffer disappointment about the marketing because the price offered for our harvests was too low and unfair. Before coffee cultivation and coffee processing were introduced to hiltribe people of northern Thailand including the villagers of Doi Chaang, the people here cultivated opium, an economic crop of that time. Opium cultivation has caused a tremendous scale of forest devastation. The fertile watershed areas of the country were also destroyed.
In 1983. His Majestry the King has an initiative to improve life quality of Thai hilltride people.So His Majesty started the Royal Development Project as per his initiation offering the breeds of some other economic plants that could replaces opium and would help reduce the devastation of the forest.
Until recently, much of the coffee grown in Thailand was typically used in the domestic market. The better arabica beans were mixed in with inferior beans, so some farmers were not receiving the prices their beans merited. Now some of the hill tribes in northern Thailand are working with partners to market their beans for export.
The Akha tribe of Chiang Rai province in the Golden Triangle is one. Their Canadian partners are Vancouver investment banker John Darch, trade and shipping executive Wayne Fallis, and Alberta roaster Shawn McDonald. McDonald's coffee ventures include Planet Coffee Roasters and import/export company Mayan Winds. They've teamed up to form the Doi Chaang Coffee Company.
The tribe's coffee farmers, consisting of over 800 families, retains a 50% ownership in this company, and entirely owns (100% ownership) their Thai-based company(Doichaang Coffee Original Co.,Ltd).Doi Chaang coffee is grown on over 2400 ha in the vicinity of the village of Doi Chang (20.325, 99.839) in Chiang Rai province (highlighted on map above) at around 1200 meters. It is 50% Caturra, 35% Catimor, and 15% Catuai.The coffee is grown under the shade of various fruit and nut trees, including macadamia, plum, pear, and peach. Reforestation efforts in the area strive for a 50/50 mix of native tree species and cash crop species (both marketable and consumable crops are necessary to replace the income formerly generated by poppy growing). Click on the photo at right for a look at some of the coffee and shade cover in Doi Chaang: there appears to be liberal use of shade trees and nice variety.
No chemicals are used on the coffee, and it is certified organic. The coffee is wet processed and sun dried.
The Doi Chaang project represents part of an effort towards sustainable agriculture and development in northern Thailand to provide economic stability for the hill tribes. Thailand has been losing forests at a higher rate than most other southeast Asian countries. Although mixed agriculture that includes coffee and other crops and native trees is not "reforestation" in a pure sense, it is certainly preferable to illegal logging and unsustainable farming practices. Some ventures to aid the hill tribes have met with criticism and failure, and one of the early problems was an inability to efficiently move and market cash crops. The energetic marketing efforts of Doi Chaang Coffee Company of a quality product, as well as the retention of ownership by the Akha, indicate this project is better concieved and executed, and much more of a success.
The hill tribes of the northern Thailand have faced extreme challenges in the past several decades. When cultivation of opium poppies was outlawed in 1958, it forced these people to use more land to generate income and sustenance, a situation exacerbated by their increasing numbers, which have quadrupled the last 30 years; the growth rate is double that of the national average. The poverty of the hill tribes is further compounded by their cultural isolation, difficulty in attaining citizenship and land ownership, and lack of good access to education and other employment opportunities.
