September 29, 2011
Innovative Coffee Project Launches New Microprocessing Facility
Farmers to Fetch Higher Prices, Increase Their Productivity
Specialty coffee—and its high price premiums—has tremendous potential to lift rural Colombians out of poverty.
USAID officials recently saw a pilot microprocessing facility that is expected to do just that in a field visit hosted by ACDI/VOCA, Cafexport and the Cooperative of Andes on September 8 in Jardin, Antioquia, Colombia. The facility is expected to increase the local farmers’ net incomes by at least 30 percent, a significant boost for the rural farmers and their families.
The visitors also celebrated the successful completion of the Mujeres Guías del Café (“women coffee guides”) activity, which addressed how the wives of farmers would be impacted by the facility. Seventy-one women received training in rural tourism promotion and demonstrated their new skills to the delegation.
Both initiatives are supported through the USAID Specialty Coffee Program, implemented by ACDI/VOCA, which provides technical assistance to the coffee sector and promotes licit economic alternatives to rural families in Colombia.
Facility Will Streamline Processing, Leverage Resources Among Farmers
In Jardin, coffee farmers had been selling their harvest as so-called parchment coffee, a term that signifies that the coffee cherries, have been wet-processed with the pulp removed but the dried parchment skin left on the bean. Under this method the coffee had been shipped in that form and later the parchment layer had been milled off just before roasting.
The USAID Specialty Coffee Program saw in this situation the opportunity to pilot an innovative facility that will add value to local production and improve the coffee-selling culture among producers. It features:
- Streamlined process and larger yields: The facility simplifies the process for the producers, who they retain higher revenues from the coffee cherry than dry parchment coffee because there is a smaller amount of coffee discarded.
- Improved cash flow for farmers: Currently, producers receive income from coffee once they sell the parchment coffee. Now, because of the microprocessing facility, producers can get paid five to six days sooner.
- Cost-savings: By processing at the facility productivity is increased and farmers’ costs to produce Rainforest Alliance-certified coffee lowered.
The visiting officials toured the facility and met with a beneficiary who spoke about the positive impact that the project has had on his life and family.
Following the visit, ACDI/VOCA’s partner, the Cooperative of Andes, held a coffee cupping, where the quality selection process was manifested. They also saw both the drying and threshing processes firsthand.
Women Learn New Skills to Promote Rural Tourism, Earn Additional Income
In the afternoon, a celebration of the successful Mujeres Guías del Café (“women coffee guides”) activity was held in Jardin. The beneficiaries gave a short yet entertaining demonstration of what they had learned. When finished, to the delight of the visitors, the women served an array of homemade regional food with which they hope to lure tourists.
Before the microprocessing facility was built, the coffee farmers’ wives were responsible for turning the coffee during the drying process, culling lesser-quality coffee beans, selecting the premium ones, and, sometimes, collecting or selling the coffee at the purchase point. The wives earned supplemental income by selling lesser-quality beans.
However, the microprocessing facility streamlines this production chain, and the women no longer have this income. Therefore the USAID Specialty Coffee Program specifically targeted the wives’ income-generation opportunities.
Under the program they received training in regional gastronomy, cultural identity, food and rural accommodations, local tourist guiding, coffee processing and accounting. With these new skills, the women will create new enterprises that will allow them to avoid loss of income.
For more information on the USAID Specialty Coffee Program, click here.
Pictured at top left: USAID officials touring the coffee production facilities in Colombia.
