Water and coffee: a systems approach to improving coffee harvesting work in Nicaragua

The aim of this study was to reduce the physical load on coffee-harvesting workers while maintaining productivity.

Coffee is second to oil in commodity trading. Water is becoming scarce worldwide. The global virtual water footprint for one cup of coffee is 140 liters. Shade-grown coffee is one approach to reducing the water footprint.

A participatory ergonomics approach was used during two Nicaraguan shade-grown coffee harvesting seasons to reduce the physical load on harvesters with the use of a newly designed bag instead of a basket strapped around the waist.

Productivity in the mountainous, shade-grown coffee farms was maintained while physical load on the worker was improved somewhat.Among basket users, 84.2% reported pain in at least one body area compared with 78.9% of bag users (ns). Nonetheless, 74% of participants liked the bag "much better" than the basket. Workers identified ways the bag could be improved further with the use of local materials.These suggestions included (a) reducing the horizontal distance of the bag to reduce reach and (b) having waterproof material on the bag between the worker and the bag to reduce moisture and damage to the berries.There was no difference in productivity between using the bag and using the small basket.

Workers are extending this participatory approach to how to get the harvested coffee cherries down the mountain other than carrying 40-kg bags on their backs. The ultimate goal is to make the coffee-harvesting bag design available to harvesters around the world.