Coffee is one of the most valuable agricultural commodities in the world, yet many farmers who grow it struggle with food insecurity. This challenge is not unique to coffee but affects workers and smallholders of other agricultural sectors in hunger-affected countries as well, as pointed out by the Global Hunger Index.
According to data from the African Fine Coffees Association (AFCA), presented at the 20th African Fine Coffees Conference and Exhibition in Addis Ababa, coffee exports from Africa were valued at over 3.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Ethiopia led the continent’s coffee exports, earning approximately 1.5 billion dollars, followed by Uganda, which exported nearly 813 million dollars’ worth of coffee that same year. While both countries have made progress in reducing hunger, the Global Hunger Index demonstrates that in both countries food insecurity is serious and remains a critical issue that needs to be addressed.
The Right to adequate Food: A Fundamental Human Right
The Right to adequate Food is recognized under international human rights law, ensuring that every individual has access to adequate, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food.
The four pillars of food security according to the United Nations plus the additional pillar of cross-cutting elements are:
- Access: People have sufficient resources to produce and/or purchase food.
- Availability: There is a reliable and consistent source of quality food.
- Stability: People’s ability to access and utilize food remains stable over time.
- Utilization: Knowledge and basic sanitary conditions enable people to choose, prepare, and distribute food effectively.
- Cross-Cutting Elements: Women’s rights, gender equality, nutrition awareness, complaint and grievance mechanisms, training and capacity building, education, and food safety monitoring.
Hunger in agricultural supply chains reduces resilience, causing farm closures, supply disruptions, trade restrictions, and social instability. It hinders economic growth, drives harmful farming, and limits farmers’ ability to invest in sustainability, affecting global goals like the Paris Agreement. Food insecurity can also force families to rely on child labor.
Farmers face strict sustainability rules (EUDR, CSDDD) while benefiting little from high coffee prices. Many struggle financially, making nutritious food unaffordable. Beyond income, food security depends on access to water, land, healthcare, and education—rights often out of reach for smallholders. Without these fundamental rights, their right to food remains compromised.
Governments bear the main responsibility for fulfilling the Right to Food as described in the FAO Guidelines. However, private sector actors must also comply with human rights due diligence and showcase commitment through reporting of risks and mitigation or prevention measures. But how can producers show this commitment for Human Rights and especially the Right to Food?
One option is the Food Security Standard (FSS). Developed as an add-on to existing certification, the FSS enables companies to assess and monitor local food security situation and have their sustainability efforts verified by a third party. Funded by the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), it serves as an add-on that integrates seamlessly into existing sustainability standards within the same audit, helping companies identify gaps in food security and implement targeted improvements. The FSS is a joint project by the German NGO Welthungerhilfe WHH and the sustainability consultancy Meo Carbon Solutions.
The FSS follows a practical and scientifically developed approach that has already been applied in diverse agricultural settings worldwide, including coffee production in Honduras, Kenya, Uganda, and Vietnam. It supports producers in establishing human rights-sensitive management structures that improve food security for farmers, workers, and local communities while meeting international human rights due diligence requirements. The FSS has been benchmarked with 4C Services as an official add-on to ensure food security for producers and workers in the coffee sector and can be combined with any other sustainability standard, such as Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade or others.
Pham Huy Dat-John Pham, Project & Marketing Manager at Vietnamese coffee producer Intimex MY PHUOC JSC, emphasizes the value of FSS audits:
“During the recent assessment, I noticed many criteria may pose social risks: some business partners hire immigrant workers. I see a need to provide training programs and mobilize these business partners so that they understand and can support these migrant workers to have a more stable life and access food more easily.”
The Path Forward
With growing global attention on human rights due diligence, coffee companies must take responsibility for workers, farmers, and local communities involved in production. The FSS is intended for use wherever there is an overall risk of food insecurity on national level. Companies can use sources like the FAO Hunger Map or Global Hunger Index reports to identify relevant areas for implementation.
Norbert Schmitz, Managing Director at 4C Services says:
“The FSS highlights the importance of social sustainability in agricultural production. It supports companies to take a holistic approach towards food security. So far, this has not always been a top priority and tremendous improvement potential still exists. The FSS is doing valuable pioneering work in this area. Its implementation together with existing sustainability certification systems like 4C helps companies to take action and to improve the food security situation on the ground.”
Lessons Learned
- More and more companies understand that they must take responsibility for their supply chains and create transparency. Tracking risks to the beginning of value chains is not only demanded by current legislation but also expected by customers and consumers.
- The FSS helps companies demonstrate compliance with human rights due diligence. Its framework focuses on the right to food, addressing social risks holistically and guiding socially responsible, sustainable practices.
- Auditors report the FSS toolbox is easy to use, and companies highlight positive outcomes, leading to food security-sensitive farm management redesigns.
- Many companies value the FSS as an add-on that can be audited alongside their main certification, reducing costs and effort. At the same time, it strengthens their market position by providing a unique social certification that enhances their product’s appeal.
If you want to learn more about the Food Security Standard and how to obtain this certificate as a unique selling point for your coffee, find out more on our website www.foodsecuritystandard.org or email us via info@foodsecuritystandard.org.
Written by Laura Mack, Senior Policy Advisor at Welthungerhilfe WHH, for the Food Security Standard.
