Mere end 250 kaffefarmere
Sammenhold og forskellighed
I 2016 blev kooperativet Cafesmo formelt oprettet. Farmene i kooperativet havde allerede da samarbejdet i flere år, og de fleste af dem er relativt små; altså mellem 2 og 12 hektar land. Sammen står farmerne stærkere med en bedre tryghed og sikkerhed mod fx sygdomme i planterne eller andre udfordringer for en lille kaffefarmer.
Alle medlemmerne af Cafesmo-kooperativet dyrker deres kaffe økologisk med fuld certificering. Typisk er det forbundet med større risici at dyrke økologisk kaffe, da planterne så er mere udsatte for bl.a. bladrust. I dette tilfælde er det netop muligt at gå den økologiske vej, fordi de står sammen og hjælper hinanden. Dels er de fælles om at betale for certificeringen, men de kan også hjælpe hinanden med viden og økonomisk sikkerhed, så ingen står alene, hvis en høst fejler.
Forskellighed er en stor del af kooperativets DNA. Det gælder både kaffesorterne, men også medlemmerne. Kooperativet har både ældre og yngre, mænd og kvinder, en mikrobiolog og en førhenværende skolelærer.
Kaffe fra Honduras
IMPACT No. 02 - Økologisk kaffe fra Honduras
Title
Ansvarlige tiltag i kooperativet
Økologisk praksis i bjergene
Det er en gruppe farmere fra området Sensenti, som leverer vores IMPACT No. 02. Folkene fra Sensenti har arbejdet i 3 år for at få deres økologiske certificering.
Deres kaffefarme ligger langt inde i Honduras' bjerge. Gruppen udgør ca. 40 mindre kaffefarmere, som sammen producerer forskellige mikro-lots. Den høst som vi har købt, har de døbt Los Cipreses, på grund af de mange cyprestræer omkring deres lots.
Hilsen fra Cafesmo
Vi fik i efteråret 2022 denne videohilsen fra kaffefarmere i Sensenti, som dyrker vores IMPACT No. 02.
De kalder deres lille gruppe COCAFEGUAL og holder til i de afsides bjerge af Honduras.
Mød én af stifterne
Hidardo Hernandez er født ind i kaffeverdernen. Han stiftede Cafesmo i 2016 sammen med Carlos Roberto, og de to udgør i dag stadig ledelsen af kooperativet.
Udover dét, ejer Hidardo sin egen kaffefarm på ca. 3,5 hektar sammen med sin mor. Her dyrker de mikro-lots og eksperimenterer med sorter og processeringer.
Selvom fyrretræer er dominerende i området, har de selv plantet træer som bananpalmer og valnøddetræer for at skabe skygge til kaffeplanterne.
I forbindelse med udgivelsen af vores Transparency Report 2022, bad vi Cafesmo svare på 5 spørgsmål.
Her får du deres svar her, direkte fra Cafesmo selv:
In 2017, we decided to certify organic for two main reasons:
- in combination with the fair trade certification, we can sell our coffee for a guaranteed premium that is often higher than the international market price. This may not sound like a very worthy or laudable reason, but our producer’s income is far below a living wage and one of our main responsibilities is to do everything that we can to assure that our members and their families can eat three times per day.
- we live where we work and we want to preserve our surroundings. When our land is healthy, we are healthier as well, now, and in the future, for our children.
Sebastian Wiersma, Cafesmo International
Women and young people are chronically underrepresented in coffee farming. However, many men migrate (illegally) to the US to find a job that can feed their families who stay behind in Honduras. Women then become responsible for the family’s farm and work very hard to make ends meet. And young people lack opportunities, which makes them want to migrate to the US (or to a lesser degree Canada or Spain) as well.
In Cafesmo 12 of our 16 employees are younger than 30 and 8 of 16 are women, three of whom have high level jobs: our Quality control manager, our Q-grader, and our bookkeeper. We also specifically encourage our roaster partners everywhere in the world to buy coffee from female farmers and from farmers younger than 30 years old.
Sebastian Wiersma, Cafesmo International
Income. The price of production in Honduras hovers around $3,75 to $4,40 per kilo of coffee. However, coffee prices are based on the international stock price for coffee, which most of the time is lower than our cost of production. Hence, people abandon their farms, go hungry, and then migrate to the US in search of a better life.
Sebastian Wiersma, Cafesmo International
In 2022, we started working with a large American NGO (Catholic Relief Services) to help us gain insight in our CO2 footprint, which we think is positive, because we are very active in reforestation.
We are also talking to a Dutch initiative that buys CO2 credits for the EU and our goal is to start selling our CO2 surplus to generate some additional income. This motivates us to become even more active in reforestation.
Sebastian Wiersma, Cafesmo International
You’re one of the best, most reliable partners we can wish for. You are determined to pay a fair price for our coffees and we know that it is not easy for you to sell at a premium price in Denmark. You are also very aware of the challenges that we face in origin countries, and you actively participate in making it possible for us to overcome those challenges. Please just keep going, glowing and growing.
