The Rowdy Rabbit (Guatemala)

Background:

FTO Women Guatemala

Fair Trade and organic-certified coffees from Guatemala are moderately common, as many smallholder producers have organized themselves into democratically run cooperatives and have achieved certification in part to leverage the value of their coffee output. Guatemala's coffee sector sees participation from many groups of indigenous producers, who typically have a strong cultural connection with preserving and conserving the land and natural resources, making organic certification a relevant choice. As there have historically been legal obstacles to women owning their own farms and/or becoming card-holding cooperative members, some of the producing associations with which we work have begun separating out women growers' coffee to sell separately as part of our Women Coffee Producers program, which comes with a gender- equity premium paid directly to the women.

Women ASPROCDEGUA

Asociación de Productores de Café Diferenciados y Especiales de Guatemala (ASPROCDEGUA) is a producing organization with 664 contributing members, the women of whom have separated out some of their coffee to make this Women Coffee Producers offering. The producing members own small farms, an average of 2 hectares each, on which they plant coffee as well as other crops for diversification, including bananas, citrus fruit like oranges and lemons, avocado, guava, and cassava. The organization offers its members access to technical assistance and routinely provides services such as soil analysis, test farms, and social projects based on food security, education, and nutrition.

ASPROCDEGUA was founded by a master cupper named Noe Quintero, with whom our green-coffee buyer Piero Cristiani has worked since his first year on the sourcing team.