Originally posted on Houston Business Journal, 24 March 2006 http://houston.bizjournals.com

Houston-based InterAmerican Coffee Inc. wants to help Rwandan coffee farmers harvest a new kind of crop -- timely news and information.

The local importer and distributor of green coffee, the "raw" bean before it's roasted, has donated $10,000 to help fund a pilot project in the African country to provide local coffee growers and farmers access to market information via wind-up radios.

The initiative, facilitated by an overseas nonprofit organization called The Freeplay Foundation, is the first link in a planned global communication chain among coffee producers, who often live in isolated areas.

Established in 1998, Freeplay is partially funded by a British company that makes products such as flashlights, radios and mobile phone chargers that run off energy sources other than electricity and batteries by using wind-up technology.

Freeplay will use InterAmerican's donation to provide self-powered radios to farmers in remote communities. The idea is to give Rwandan coffee farmers access to timely market information, as well as to provide agricultural and other technical advice. Weather bulletins -- which will help the farmers plan their work schedules -- will also be available through the service.

Landing InterAmerican as the first major corporate donor should help attract other private financial partners to the project, says Michelle Riley, a senior consultant with the Freeplay Foundation who is based in Savannah, Ga.

Riley says InterAmerican's donation has funded the purchase and distribution of 60 radios in Rwanda, which through a cooperate system are likely to reach up to 6,000 farmers.

"This is our first significant funding," Riley says. "Because InterAmerican stepped up, the first batch of radios have indeed been distributed to farmers, who are so enthralled."

Officials from InterAmerican could not be reached for comment on the company's participation in the initiative.

But Riley says Freeplay plans to ask other coffee companies from around the world to make similar donations that would help further the project.