|
|
Profile of FAPECAFES in Ecuador |
Print
|
E-mail
|
 In 1997, in the far south of Ecuador, 500 farming families joined together and formed the coffee association PROCAP (Puyango Producers of High Altitude Coffee). Although their province (Loja) is widely known for the excellence of its coffee, these farmers were barely able to provide the most basic necessities for their families. The price of coffee on the world market was low; years of limited resources had depleted their soils - causing yields to seriously decline; and they had no technical assistance for coffee cultivation and processing to counteract these trends.
Besides the global coffee crisis, the farmers were living another difficult reality closer to home. Ecuador and neighboring Peru had been locked in a border dispute for over half a century. The last of several small wars had just taken place in 1995. Political uncertainty left its mark on Puyango, which is just a day's walk from Peru. Neither private industry nor the government wished to invest in a region with such an uncertain future. The coffee farmers paid the price. For example, roads leading from the Puyango area's main town, Alamor, out to the countryside were washed out for three months a year, leaving the coffee farms completely isolated. The farmers were forced to borrow against the harvest to cover basic necessities at exorbitant interest rates. Additionally, information about the global market was non-existent. In practically all commercial negotiations, the Puyango farmers were vulnerable to abusive practices by middlemen.
A peace agreement ending the border dispute was finally negotiated between the two countries in 1998, opening the way for long-term possibilities and visions. Soon thereafter, an international coffee conference was held in Loja with representatives from successful coffee co-operatives in Peru, non-governmental organizations, and representatives of international alternative trade organizations. A representative from Equal Exchange attended the conference to explain our mission, development model, and manner of working with organized farmers.
The conference inspired many ideas and soon after, Equal Exchange was approached by one of our long-term partners in northern Peru, CEPICAFE, asking if we could purchase coffee from PROCAP in an attempt to allow them some recognition in the international market. International borders were negotiated between governments, but true peace efforts, development support, and solidarity are built between citizens – in this case, rural coffee farmers living on either side of a political border.
Equal Exchange was happy to help support this gesture of solidarity, and we trusted our Peruvian partner's judgment on the capacities and vision of their Ecuadorian neighbors. After sampling PROCAP's coffee, we agreed to buy one container as a pilot project. After several more years in this temporary arrangement, Equal Exchange was ready to take the next step. Pleased with the consistent high quality of their coffee, their business practices, and their development objectives, we sent a representative to visit, meet with the farmers, learn more about the organization and begin steps to take them on as a long-term partner.
The Ecuadorian farmers weren’t idle during this time. Pleased with the growing success of PROCAP, three other small farmer associations (APECAP, APECAM and PROCAFEQ) were created to help empower coffee producers in Loja and the neighboring provinces of El Oro and Zamora Chinchipe. In 2002, the four associations affiliated under one umbrella organization, the Federation of Ecological Coffee Producer Associations in the Southern Region – FAPECAFES.
Today, there are approximately 1,200 families who have joined one of FAPECAFES' associations. In 2003, they received their fair trade and organic certifications and began expanding their markets into the U.S., Canada and Europe. They are presently investing much of their fair trade premiums into the renovation of their farms, protecting forests and biological diversity, and improving their processing methods from a "natural" process to a wet process. Although farm renovation and forest reforestation projects take many years, the FAPECAFES members have already started to benefit from higher prices, quality trainings, and various social projects in which they’ve invested their social premiums. While the members used to be dependent on rented mills, they have now accumulated sufficient capital to buy land and build their own warehouse and dry processor. FAPECAFES has begun hiring staff and contracting extension workers to train the associations and provide technical assistance in coffee cultivation, planning, administration and leadership development. Now international buyers come to southern Ecuador to meet the farmers and negotiate contracts!
What started out as a temporary relationship between FAPECAFES and Equal Exchange has grown and deepened into a partnership of mutual respect. Today, we have a strong long-term relationship with our Ecuadorian partners and have managed to quadruple our annual coffee purchases from them.
|
|
|
|
Farmer Partners 
