SINGING ROOSTER
Singing Rooster invests in the capacity of Haiti’s small and growing agricultural businesses. Autonomy = dignity.
Singing Rooster is a social enterprise non-profit established in 2009. The company partners commercially with smallholder producers in Haiti to help to build stronger, self-sustaining businesses. Along with directly supporting coffee farmers, they’re beginning to work with cacao producers (cacao is the raw form of chocolate).
Farmers are paid a minimum of $3 per pound for crops. They return another 50 cents after crops sell for continued business development. The remainder of costs — 34% — pays for export and import costs, transportation to the roastery, warehousing, roasting, bagging, and shipping. Farmers earn 66% of every bag sold.
The per-capita gross national income is less than $800 a year for a farmer family in Haiti. Singing Rooster Inc. exceeds both the national income and the principles of fair trade. For example, they pay twice as much for crops and return 100% of proceeds from sales back to farmer communities in the form of agricultural, small business management, and entrepreneurial development activities.
Singing Rooster is building rural economies because farmers, not middlemen, spend money at home.
