Here's a surprise to enjoy with your morning cup of coffee: an activist non-governmental organization and Canada's coffee- industry association agreeing in public. We have joined forces because low coffee prices are having an impact on people inWhat brings us together is the human impact being felt in the world's coffee- growing regions due to current low coffee prices. And though we may not agree on the causes, nor on all of the approaches to solving the challenges, we see eye-to-eye on a key step forward: Canada should rejoin the International Coffee Organization.

This morning 25 million coffee farmers around the world face yet another day with such low returns for the coffee they grow, many lack food, money to pay school fees and or the medicines they may need for a sick family member. Why? Because in real terms, the overall prices for coffee are lower than they have been in years.

Not only are farmers and their families suffering, governments dependent on coffee revenue --- many of them among the poorest in the world --- are slashing spending on health and education and taking on more debt while they wait for the coffee market to recover.

Coffee prices have fallen sharply in the past three years, and now:

....*....The worst affected countries, like Ethiopia, lose more revenue from falling coffee prices than they receive from debt relief;

....*....Some of Africa's poorest countries ---- Cameroon, Burundi, Ivory Coast and Tanzania ---- face losses that outstrip the development aid they receive.

Oxfam and the Coffee Association of Canada have seen the distress of coffee communities up close. Oxfam has supported development projects in coffee regions for many years. Many Coffee Aassociation members -- - roasters, retailers and suppliers --to the coffee industry - lend a hand there too, helping growers enhance income through quality improvement initiatives. And the association is supporting an industry-wide initiative to examine the root causes of the current situation and create structures to prevent any reoccurrence.

As an industry association and an activist development agency, we often disagree on how to make our morning coffee a source of prosperity rather than a cause of distress. But we both know our efforts alone won't suffice.

A global problem needs a global solution. That means governments must act. The good news is that a multilateral forum exists for marshalling the collective will of governments. The bad news is Canada is conspicuously absent.

The International Coffee Organization (ICO) is an intergovernmental body established by the United Nations in 1962 to address global issues related to coffee. ICO members include all major producer countries and virtually all major consumer countries. The organization has all major industry players on its private-sector consultative board.

Under executive director Nestor Osorio, who is in Canada this week, the ICO has moved ambitiously to tackle the causes of the crisis by supporting quality-improvement programs for small farmers and a program to support prices by legislating quality standards for exportable coffee. Its most important role is bringing together all concerned parties.

We should say most parties. Despite Canada's self-declared image as a booster of global institutions and multilateral solutions, a previous Canadian government walked out on the ICO. In the budget cuts of the early 1990s, Agriculture Canada decided to sacrifice its seat at the coffee table. Saving approximately $130,000 in annual dues might have made fiscal sense when Canada faced a large deficit and the coffee market seemed stable, but it makes no sense today.

As a major consumer country with expertise in multilateral efforts, Canada would enjoy enormous leverage in the ICO. The numbers of countries involved and people affected alone make the ICO a nexus for global co-ordination.

In light of Prime Minister Jean Chretien's commitment to Africa, rejoining the ICO would be a frugal way to have a lasting impact. Every dollar that producing countries lose in coffee revenue results in a multiplier effect hat overwhelms aid dollars.

Since September, Oxfam has been raising awareness among Canadians of the unnatural disaster in the world's coffee-growing regions. In every province, people tell us that they want the government to be part of the solution. The members of the Coffee Association of Canada hear the same message from their customers.

We will do our part, but a global NGO and a single private association can't solve this daunting trade and poverty challenge. Governments must act.

A long-term solution to the failing coffee market won't be simple. But neither can we leave millions of poor farmers to their fate because the task is complex. Canada can help in the search for solutions. Joining the ICO is a first step.

Rieky Stuart is executive director of Oxfam Canada. Sandy McAlpine is president of the Coffee Association of Canada.