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Colombia
El Carmen
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In May 2017, Raw Material met with Invercafe and two new coffee producer groups in Pitalito, Huila, to understand what is preventing farmers from accessing the specialty market. During these discussions we heard farmers describe their core challenges: a lack of key infrastructure; and lack of stable prices to provide certainty for investment in improved quality. Together, we also uncovered a wide gap between how the quality is discussed and measured at the farm level.
El Fénix
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As well as being a rare variety producing farm, El Fénix is also home to a developing community wet mill for producers in the area. The project was crowdfunded to help fund the construction of the mill, which when complete will provide the region’s farmers with greater control over their coffee quality, and control over their income through a fixed price payment system. Investment in this kind of accessible infrastructure is one of the necessary steps to make good on the promise of development through trade.
IMH♀
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The women’s group IMH (Igualdad Mujeres Hombres) is an initiative of rural women who are committed to learning all that entails to produce high-quality specialty coffee. The group are focussed on processing techniques, from picking to drying, with the goal of improving flavour for sale into the specialty market. Igualdad Mujeres Hombres hosts workshops and exchanges between both male and female coffee producers. The goal is to enhance productivity in the long term, encouraging respectful dynamics between men and women in these rural areas of Colombia.
Risaralda Regional
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The Risaralda Regional Blend is a blend of coffees from the regions of Asocafe Tatama Santuario, El Aguila, and Entreverdes. A regional blend means we can maximise the impact for producers across the department of Risaralda, by bringing much larger volumes of their coffee to the specialty market. The blend is brought together in Santuario, where the coffee from each region is blended and prepared for milling.
Santuario
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Asocafé Tatama Santuario is an association located in the north-west of Risaralda in the municipality of Santuario. This association has 200 members and has been collectively working towards the commercialisation of specialty coffee, with the goal of paying better prices to its members. The farms which make up the association stretch across altitudes between 1300 - 1900 MASL.
Villamaría
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Villamaría's processing station, Jamaica, was chosen due to its perfect climate and altitude for the drying of naturally processed coffee. Alongside this, the large space available meant that producing high-quality naturals at scale was a possibility not available before.
As the project gained speed, roasters worldwide began to buy long-term from Villamaría, and neighbouring communities were able to see the merits of selling cherry to La Aurora, the delivery and buying point for Jamaica, instead of parchment to a nearby trilladora. The sale of whole cherries to a processing station is a method uncommon in Colombia but seen in many other coffee-producing countries.
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