Since late 2014, USAID and Winrock International (along with other partners, such as The Coffee Quality Institute and Atlas) have collaborated on a Value Chains for Rural Development project to provide training, market access, agronomy, and business skills to smallholder coffee farmers in Southern Shan State. The project has been a resounding success for key stakeholders, not least of all the coffee-growing communities in Southern Shan State from whom Atlas buys coffee. With the project’s end date slated for late 2019, one key to the continued success of Myanmar's burgeoning specialty coffee market will be groups like Shwe Taung Thu.
The group started as an internship for five leaders among the 18 coffee-producing communities. Still, in early 2018, several of the members realized that they would need to grow and evolve to take on a larger leadership role for their communities going forward, and in May 2018, the group Shwe Taung Thu, or “golden farmer” in Burmese, was born.
Shwe Taung Thu is an organization of 18 members (one elected member from each participating coffee-growing community), five of whom meet on a fortnightly basis to discuss any issues or to meet its service mission of providing access to finance, technical support, and market linkages for its members. Shwe Taung Thu has secured a headquarters building, which it uses for cuppings, training, and events, including its yearly General Assembly meeting in September.
For a village or community to have a representative as part of Shew Taung Thu (1-year term, max 5-year before needing to take 1-year hiatus before being reelected), it must have at least ten core members--paying stakeholders who receive full benefits of Shew Taung Thu, access to training, and also receive profit sharing. Associate members are producers who sell cherries to the group. Shwe Taung Thu has 400 core members (60% women) across the 18 communities and 3,500 associate members.
Before the 2021 coup, the group’s most significant challenge across the communities has been working through various agronomy issues and securing access to finance. Still, they are working on pre-harvest and milling/export finance for this coming crop season with a local bank and an international social lending bank.
Shwe Taung Thu has created a strong leadership structure for the communities. As we spent several days with Soe Thinzar, the group’s young, intelligent, dedicated, and charismatic Sales and Quality Control Director, we were encouraged and impressed by the self-motivation of this fantastic group of producers. We look forward to working with Shwe Taung Thu and the communities it represents for a long time.
Here are a few resources to learn more about Shwe Thaung Thu.
- Shwe Thaung Thu video, produced by the community
- PDF of Sea to Sea presentation from April 2024
- MCG Video
- BTL Video
Shwe Thaung Thu Leadership Group at their new Headquarters
