Archives: Cooperatives

Cocla is a Peruvian second-tier cooperative made up of 22 primary cooperatives with a social and service vocation.

COCLA's participatory and gender-based approach is oriented towards the implementation of activities that generate an improvement in the economy of its members, paying special attention to the responsible management of the environment and implementing productive diversification processes.

COCLA's mission is to contribute to the socio-economic development of its member cooperatives and their members by providing competitive and quality services (related to the processing and marketing of coffee and other products) and by fostering the integral development and entrepreneurship of their organisations.

COCLA's vision is to become Peru's leading high quality coffee brand and an authority in the preparation of coffee, as well as other products that make up the agricultural chain of its partners. COCLA's strategy, throughout its years in the market, has always been differentiation in quality, environmental expectations and sustainability expectations. To this end, COCLA has Fair Trade, Organic, Rainforest Alliance and Rei Alliance certifications.

The Central de Cooperativas Agrarias Cafetaleras de los Valles de Sandia (CECOVASA or La Central), was founded in 1970 by five cooperatives that joined together to export directly, to obtain better prices and to share costs; it now has 8 cooperatives grouping together 4581 producers. The Central exports more than 75% of coffee production from the Tambopata and Inambari valleys on the eastern slopes of the Andes in southern Peru. The production of both valleys represents 2% of the national total.

Cecovasa's members are Quechua and Aymara, from the high plateau of Lake Titicaca. This region, whose soils are not very fertile, is periodically affected by the El Niño phenomenon, which was and is the cause of migrations (such as the one that occurred in the 1930s in the Bolivian Yungas region, where they learned to cultivate the coffee that, twenty years later, gave rise to the Central plant). Thus, coffee, which was born in Ethiopia and spread from France and Holland, arrived at Cecovasa from Bolivia.

The Aymara civilisation mainly colonised the Tambopata valley, while the Quechua civilisation colonised the Inambari. The producers cultivate an average of two hectares of coffee plantations. Cecovasa's production area ranges from 800 to 2,000 metres above sea level, and one third of the coffee plantations are located in the buffer zone of the Bahuaja Sonene National Park. The harvest is concentrated between March and July, extending in the highest parts until November.

CECOVASA aims to promote the association, leadership and business excellence of its cooperatives and associated producers. To this end, it promotes business training and provides training services, technical assistance, credit, acquisition of inputs, brand development, certification, information, collection, processing and marketing of speciality coffees. With all this, it seeks to contribute to increasing incomes and improving the living conditions and quality of life of families.
VISION
"CECOVASA is an organisation of coffee producers in the Sandia Valley, supported by the values and principles of cooperativism, committed to the eradication of extreme poverty, the preservation of Andean culture and environmental sustainability, which bases its consolidation and business growth on the efficiency of its production and commercial processes and the originality and quality of its products".

Asociación de Productoras Agrarias Agrocafé Kivinaki (Agrocafé) is an association of coffee and orange producers located in the Junín region of Peru. It is dedicated to the specialty, Fair Trade and organic coffee market.

Agrocafé's mission is to produce high quality certified coffee for international niche markets. It offers its members technical and financial assistance to improve their production, assists in the adoption of good practices and stimulates economic and social progress.

Agrocafé is a small organisation with around 150 members. The average size of the coffee plantations is four hectares. Its business model is based on maintaining a strong relationship with its partners, and striving for financial, social and environmental sustainability in a region afflicted by high levels of poverty.

PRODECOOP is a second-degree cooperative organisation made up of some 40 grassroots cooperatives, which brings together more than 2300 associated small producers, 27% of whom are women. Its area of influence is located in the area of Las Segovias, which includes the departments of Madriz, Nueva Segovia and Estelí, in the north of the country.

100% of the members are Fairtrade certified. Thanks to Fairtrade Premiums they have access to services such as: marketing, cooperative development (including technical assistance, training, credit or institutional strengthening of cooperatives), coffee quality improvement and social projects.

The coffees they produce are shade-grown, sun-dried and hand-picked, which gives them very good taste and appearance characteristics.

PRODECOOP is an economically and environmentally sustainable cooperative, with gender and generational equity. It is a leader in promoting the production, processing and marketing of the various products of small producers associated with cooperatives that have a consolidated base and are committed to development. This generates added value and offers more and better services to its members, thus fostering a climate that favours strategic alliances.

We invite you to visit their website for more details:

CECOCAFEN is a cooperative organisation with more than 2000 small producers affiliated in 11 cooperatives in the Matagalpa region. The region's tropical and humid climate, rich volcanic soil and lush vegetation contribute to the unique taste of an internationally renowned coffee.

The biggest challenge for CECOCAFEN is to work on the reconstruction of their country after years of civil war. The organisation collaborates in the production process (part of its daily work) and facilitates the processes of training, productive and business technical assistance. It also provides support in the processing of coffee and ensures the commercialisation of the product.

CECOCAFEN has put a lot of effort into improving coffee quality. With a mixture of loans, donations and their own funds (generated from Fair Trade), they bought a coffee processing plant, called SolCafé, in May 1999. Here the members have a threshing machine that allows them to process the coffee into green beans, thus being able to control the quality throughout the process and increase their productive activities.

The most recent project CECOCAFEN is working on is the development of ecotourism in their area, which will generate additional income for farming families, and educate visitors about coffee production and Fair Trade. Horseback or walking tours, guided visits to the coffee plantations, various activities with the community, among other proposals, will help to increase awareness and protection of natural resources. The youth of the community are excellent guides, thanks to their knowledge of the local flora and fauna. The women, organised in committees, are learning how to provide accommodation and food for the ecotourists, so that they can offer them the best possible treatment.

Unión Majomut is a Fair Trade cooperative that brings together some 1,000 small coffee producers from the Tzeltal and Tzotzil ethnic groups in the highlands region of Chiapas (Mexico). They strive for an integral and inclusive development of the producer families associated with the organisation.

Thus, the association has been working since 1983 for the production and marketing of coffee in the area, but it also focuses on the development of projects that aim to improve the living and working conditions of the 32 communities that benefit from this producer group.

The organisation's coffee cultivation takes place in the highlands of Chiapas, at an altitude of over 1,000 metres above sea level and on volcanic soils, and follows a fully traditional and natural cultivation system inherited from their ancestors. The members of Majomut are smallholders They have, on average, an area of land of two hectares. They generally dedicate one hectare to the cultivation of coffee, the commercialisation of which allows them to obtain the necessary income to buy basic necessities (clothes, medicines, etc.) and the rest of the land is used for the cultivation of coffee. maize and bean production for family and community consumption.

Unión de la Selva is a Social Solidarity Society that brings together more than 1400 small indigenous producers of Mayan origin, from the Mam, Mocho, Tojolabal, Tzotzil and Tzeltal ethnic groups, settled in 146 communities in 19 municipalities of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas.

Unión de la Selva was formed in 1980 in an attempt to respond to the common problems of the farmers and in an effort to secure fair prices for their coffee and to maintain their natural resources (soil, water, flora and fauna), deteriorated by the effects of modern monoculture practices. Organic farming is based on traditional knowledge, and the effort is materialised in the preservation of biodiversity through the cultivation of indigenous crops and the use of traditional working methods.

Unión de Ejidos Profesor Otilio Montaño (UDEPOM) is a coffee cooperative located in the Sierra Madre region of Chiapas, near the border with Guatemala, a region that has endured poor infrastructure, high unemployment rates, high illiteracy rates and low life expectancy.

Local small-scale coffee producers (who come from diverse ethnic groups) created UDEPOM to combat these problems by seeking stable and fair prices for their coffee and to gain direct access to international markets, avoiding the speculative abuses of large middlemen and middlewomen.

UDEPOM achieved Fairtrade certification for their coffee in 2003. The members are committed to maintaining their natural resources and pioneered organic agricultural production in the area. The indigenous Mayan cooperatives use traditional knowledge as a basis for organic farming methods, as well as running training courses funded by Fairtrade premiums.

Fairtrade premiums are being used to create a low-interest microcredit programme for members to enable them to carry out their projects, and thus improve the living conditions of their community.

COOPEAGRI is a social economy cooperative oriented towards the integral development of its members through the implementation of alternative projects and programmes that contribute to improving their quality of life.

Since its birth in 1962, it has worked to promote corporate social responsibility, innovation and excellence in customer service, the participation of members and workers, as well as commitment to the environment.

This cooperative has more than 16,000 members. In 2006 they exported 267 tons of cane sugar. The resources generated by the exports of Fairtrade sugar with FLO certification are used to implement programmes in favour of the producers, such as: the payment of economic incentives, the establishment of coffee almacigales or the protection of the Peñas Blancas river basin.

You can watch a video here.

The Manizales coffee growers' cooperative was founded on 22 August 1960, in the central municipalities of the Department of Caldas, and later extended to the eastern region of the same. From the beginning it has counted on the sponsorship and support of the National Federation of Coffee Growers in terms of access to capital for the purchase of the grain, for the construction of a modern infrastructure, always looking for an adequate commercialisation. Its creation arose from the need to give a fair price to the coffee grower, to pay in cash and to have an exact weight, thus contributing to the improvement of the quality of life of the producer and his or her family.

The coffee is grown on fertile land, applying the best practices to preserve and enhance its fragrance and aroma. It is a coffee created following the tradition and experience of a region that enjoys the perfect balance between good taste and respect for nature.