Yha Hauka Kopi (YHK) is an association of coffee producers based in the Menyamya administrative region of Morobe province, in eastern PNG. The company has its main coffee processing factory in Aseki. YHK also has a major coffee-buying warehouse 36km further up the road in the town of Menyamya, and a second factory based at 14-Mile, inland from the major port of Lae.

‘Yha Hauka’ means ‘fruit of the plant’, a reference both to coffee cherries and to the organisation’s role as provider for the community.

YHK has an expanding shareholder membership (currently 600) – it is these shareholders who are entitled to sell their coffee as organic Fairtrade, and these shareholders, all based in the near vicinity of Aseki, currently produce 450 tonnes of coffee annually between them. A share in the company costs 40 kina (NZ$20). Shareholders enjoy voting rights and, should there ever be a profit for the association, a dividend.

ll coffee currently certifiable as Fairtrade is harvested between June and October.

After picking their cherries, growers de-pulp the beans themselves using hand pulpers. Beans are then washed, dried, packed into sacks and then sold as coffee parchment. On arrival at the Aseki factory, parchment is further processed into green beans.

In more remote parts of the region, where no roads exist, coffee is carried for up to two days on foot to the nearest collection point.

YHK plays an important role within the local community. In a land where government support in such areas as education, healthcare and transport  infrastructure is either minimal or non-existent, YHK has assumed a role as provider for the community.  YHK money has been spent maintaining roads and rebuilding bridges, which benefits the whole region, or at various times towards helping provide other services for the community.

‘Coffee is my only source of income, and the price we usually get pays only for basic food. Only with the extra income fair trade would give me can I do more to provide for my family”

- Simon Yawing, coffee farmer, Yha Hauka Kopi