Colombia Huila Alimucaes Women’s Project GrainPro

Coffee Background

Want to support women in coffee? Asociación de Mujeres Cafeteras de Colombia (ALIMUCAES) was established in 2014 to help 310 women from the municipality of Colombia, located in the department of Huila, find an international market for their coffee. Organizing as a group was a critical first step because this growing region in northern Huila is isolated from the rest of Huila’s coffee growing region to the south. The municipality was actually named Colombia because it takes so long to get there that it feels like traveling to a different Colombia. And the dry desert looking landscape of this Colombia might have you looking twice when you see cactus growing next to coffee. The women have organized with leaders from each community to establish a larger network of support. The model of collaboration produces a traceable community blend with a vibrant regional profile. This lot comes from small farms where each producer has their own micro-mill to carefully harvest cherries, depulp, ferment, wash and gently dry the parchment on raised beds. An export company called Mastercol provides crucial logistical support for things like warehousing and milling coffee for export to the international market, which provides better income for everyone to reinvest in their farms and strengthen their families’ livelihoods.