NICARAGUA FT ORGANIC SJ RIO COCO 22 DE MAYO – 29076 – Ecotact Bags – SPOT RCWHSE

Coffee Background

Go all the way back to the beginning of coffee’s fair trade movement and you will find Promotora de Desarrollo Cooperativo de Las Segovias (PRODECOOP). Established in 1992, PRODECOOP now has a history of more than 25 years as a model cooperative in the coffee supply chain. PRODECOOP is an umbrella organization by design, meaning its primary purpose is to cover nearly 40 community-based cooperatives operating in the department of Esteli, Madriz, and Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua. PRODECOOP focuses on creating access to credit for producers and investing in social programs on a larger and more impactful scale using the collective resources generated from the sale of coffee.  Environmental training programs, healthcare initiatives, life insurance, and educational opportunities are just some of the ways PRODECOOP strives to support community-based cooperatives and improve the quality of life for coffee producers and their families. PRODECOOP also operates a centrally located dry mill facility and cupping lab where coffee is received, processed and selected for export.  Preparing coffee for export is a vital resource for local cooperatives, which ensures traceability and quality control throughout the post-harvest process.  

This particular lot comes from one of PRODECOOP’s cooperative, Cooperativa Multifuncional de Servicios Multiples 22 de Mayo, R.L., representing 96 farmers collectively growing coffee on 272 hectares of biodiverse family farms. 22 de Mayo is in Madríz, on Nicaragua’s border with Honduras, and member growers live throughout the municipalities of San Lucas, Buena Vista, La Illusión, and San José. The cooperative’s major goal is to improve the livelihood of its members and the environments they represent through coffee, as well as other foodstuffs they grow—including bananas, citrus, and timber. 22 de Mayo is currently utilizing their Fair Trade premium funds constructing a new auditorium building adjacent to the cooperative, for hosting growers and managing their programming, which includes both intra-coop programs and PRODECOOP benefits like short-term lending programs and land grants for female growers. 

While the majority of growers deliver cherry directly to the central PRODECOOP wet mill in San Juan de Rio Coco, some also process at home using small manual pulping equipment and fermentation tanks hand-made out of wood or concrete. For those who process at home, fermentation times are typically short—12-15 hours—and utilize water drawn from local wells. Once home processed parchment is ready, either dry or wet, PRODECOOP coordinates transportation on behalf of growers to facilitate collection.