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Adapted
from an Interview with Martha Villarreyna and Pedro Haslam
of CECOCAFEN in Nicaragua.
The
following is a brief article adapted from an interview by
Felicity Butler with Martha Villarreyna, Director de
Comercializacion, and Pedro Haslam, Gerente General, of
CECOCAFEN, supplier of Café Campesino’s delicious
Nicaragua coffee. CECOCAFEN is a processing and exporting
cooperative owned by small village cooperatives throughout
the Matagalpa region of Nicaragua.
Café
Campesino sincerely thanks our friends at CECOCAFEN for
helping us to better understand our partners and bringing
us together in the name of Fair Trade.
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 When
asked about what is happening now at CECOCAFEN while
coffee is not being harvested, Martha Villareyna listed a
litany of activities, making it clear that
"off-season" is by no means
"down-time" at CECOCAFEN! While they are closing
the books on 2003/2004 sales for each village cooperative,
applications are being received and approved from members
of the cooperatives for new credit loans for the
maintenance of the coffee plantations in 2004/2005.
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 In
addition, training and workshops, both theoretical and
practical, are being provided for the associated members,
addressing subjects such as organic and conventional
production, basic accounting skills and improving the wet
mill processing on the farms. Workshops are also being
held for the personnel of CECOCAFEN in preparation for ISO
9002-2000 certification.
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The
folks at CECOCAFEN are also conducting technical
inspections of the coffee farms to estimate production for
the upcoming 2004/2005 harvest. At the same time,
inspections of the coffee farms for organic certification
in partnership with BIOLATINA have begun.
 At
the community development level, on-going work is being
done on the youth education program for the members’
children who receive scholarships and for the women in the
small credit loan scheme (GMAS: Grupo de mujeres en Ahorro
Solidario).
During
this "non-harvesting" period the individual
village cooperatives are working on the different
practices and techniques for cultivating their coffee,
which will improve the planting areas, the quality of the
product and improve the well-being of the producers. Some
of the areas in which the CECOCAFEN and the producer
cooperatives are working include: weeding, regulating the
shade, pruning and trimming, the development and
application of organic products on the farms, improving
the wet mill process, and the de-pulping of mature coffee.
Assembly meetings in each associated cooperative are being
held simultaneously to reinforce the other development
work being spearheaded by CECOCAFEN.
CECOCAFEN
is yet another shining example of Fair Trade at work.
Their dedication to the producers is evident not only in
the sheer number of activities that they have undertaken
but also the breadth of the areas they are addressing,
from production to community-wide development.
To
learn more, please visit www.cooperativecoffees.com,
where you can find more information about CECOCAFEN www.cecocafen.com
and our other coffee producing partners around the world.
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