Investing in the Future of Coffee

In 2023, the Asociación de Productores Cafetaleros Andinos Sierra Verde, a Peruvian coffee cooperative planned and invested Community Development Funds to strengthen productivity, improve quality, and support its members’ long-term success through a variety of programs that carried into 2024. The largest share of funds, nearly $90,000 USD, was directed to an Agroecological Development Fund, providing direct payments to members to support productivity, quality improvements, and environmental conservation. An additional $41,000 USD was invested in a Quality, Productivity, and Sustainability Fund, which supported climate adaptation, technical training, quality control, and the purchase of a coffee roaster. The co-op also invested in administrative operation, allocating $12,000 USD to support essential business functions like accounting, traceability systems, and certification management, investments that are essential for maintaining certifications and market access. And the cooperative invested $2,000 USD in team-building and morale-boosting social activities, reinforcing the sense of shared purpose and community that hold the cooperative together. These, among other investments in the economic, social, and environmental resilience of the cooperative, show a long-term approach to making smallholder coffee production viable far in to the future.