Press Release: PLN Australia facilitates private investment in Tanna Coffee, Vanuatu

PLN Australia has assisted the Genesis Impact Fund with its investment of $650,000 in the Tanna Coffee Develepment Company (TCDC).

TCDC grows, processes, roasts and distributes premium single-origin coffee through small-holder farmers on plantations on Tanna Island, Vanuatu.

Current stockists include most of Vanuatu’s premium Resorts, Restaurants and Café’s, Air Vanuatu, P&O Cruises and Au Bon Marche Supermarkets, as well as regional sales in Fiji, Samoa, Australia and New Zealand .

The local Industry of 750,000 coffee trees was almost totally wiped out two years ago when tropical Cyclone Pam devastated Vanuatu’s 84 islands, leaving almost 700 farmers without any source of income.

TCDC has worked with the local community to rebuild and has produced its first harvest since the cyclone. Working with almost 700 farmers, equates to supporting a community of over 5,000 people – or 16 per cent of Tanna’s population.

The investment will be used to develop 200 hectares of land and to increase TCDC’s production by another 100 tonnes annually, with the land being distributed in 1 hectare plots to 200 farming families for them to grow coffee and other commercial products.

TCDC’s Managing Director Terry Adlington said the investment would amplify the company’s impact on Vanuatu’s local, domestic and export economy.

“When I arrived in Vanuatu to work with Tanna Coffee 20 years ago, farmers were being paid 20 vatu (AUD$0.25) per kilogram of coffee cherry and through the provision of value-addition processing, we are now able to pay them 270 vatu (AUD$3.20), which we now see flowing directly back into the local community,” Mr Adlington said.

“We anticipate farmers’ income will increase by 20 per cent as a result of the investment, increasing their living standards, improving lifestyles and providing the ability to afford consistent education for their children.”

John Ridgway, Head of Legal, PLN Australia said.

“We are delighted to have played an integral part in this investment. There are hundreds of families on Tanna whose livelihood was directly impacted by Cyclone Pam and who are now going to directly benefit from this investment via the rejuvenation of the Tanna Coffee plantation. We are proud to be associated with the investment and to have contributed to the positive social impacts it is going to have. Buy your coffee from www.tannacoffee.com!"

Media contacts

John Ridgway

Head of Legal Services

T +61 410 520 416

E j.ridgway@pln.com.au