The contribution of coffee crops to socioeconomic development of Karenge sector in Rwamagana district. Case study of Kopakaka cooperative. period:2008-2011.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

«Traditionally, agriculture and forestry were central to rural life. They were the major employers of labour, the main sources of income within the rural economy and indirectly had a powerful influence on traditions, power structures and life styles» (Lane 1994,www.jcu.edu.au/business/public/groups/.../jcudev_012907.pdf, May 20, 2012)

This chapter attempts to review areas and various literature related to the culture of coffee, cooperatives and their values inrelation to socio-economic development. This section has a variety of resources to refer to the researcher restricted herself to only those sources that will directly to the study.

2.1 Definition and concepts

2.1.1 Coffee

According to the Wikipedia, free encyclopaedia ( www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/coffee), Coffee is a brewedbeverage with a bitter, acidic flavour prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Africa. Green (unroasted) coffee is one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world. Coffee can have a stimulating effect on humans due to its caffeine content. It is one of the most-consumed beverages in the world.

Coffee has played a crucial role in many societies. The energizing effect of the coffee bean plant is thought to have been discovered in the northeast region of Ethiopia, and the cultivation of coffee first expanded in the Arab world. The earliest credible evidence of coffee drinking appears in the middle of the 15th century, in the Sufi shrines of Yemen in southern Arabia. From the Muslim world, coffee spread to India, Italy, then to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and to the Americas. In East Africa and Yemen, it was used in religious ceremonies. As a result, the Ethiopian Church banned its secular consumption, a ban in effect until the reign of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia. It was banned in OttomanTurkey during the 17th century for political reasons, and was associated with rebellious political activities in Europe ( www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/coffee).

Coffee berries, which contain the coffee seeds or "beans", are produced by several species of small evergreen bush of the genusCoffea. The two most commonly grown are the highly regarded CoffeaArabica, and the "Robusta" form of the hardier Coffeacanephora. The latter is resistant to the devastating coffee leaf rust ( Hemileiavastatrix). Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. The seeds are then roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. They are then ground and brewed to create coffee. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways.

2.1.2 Social

The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms as applied to population's humans and other animals. It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary. The word "Social" derives from the Latin word socii ("allies"), it is particularly derived from the Italian Socii states that historically allied with the Roman Republic, though they famously rebelled against Rome in the Social War of 91-88 BC.

In the absence of agreement about its meaning, the term "social" is used in many different senses and regarded as a fuzzy concept, referring among other things to:

Attitudes, orientations, or behaviours which take the interests, intentions, or needs of other people into account (in contrast to anti-socialbehaviour) have played some role in defining the idea or the principle. For instance terms like social realism, social justice, social constructivism, social psychology and social capital imply that there is some social process involved or considered a process that is not there in regular, "non-social" realism, justice, constructivism, psychology, or capital.

In contemporary society, "social" often refers to the redistributive policies of the government which aim to apply resources in the public interest, for example, social security. Policy concerns then include the problems of social exclusion and social cohesion. Here, "social" contrasts with "private" and to the distinction between the public and the private (or privatized) spheres, where ownership relations define access to resources and attention (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social).