Results

Octavio Laguna used to be an uneducated farmer and is now a local leader. He was one of the few farmers who still had hope when the Farmers Field School was established in Huila and through his example the attitude in his community has changed completely, people now trust each other and work together. As a result many other farmers were able to achieve great results following the training. Moreover, thanks to their improved income they are now able to pay their workers better wages so they in return have been able to increase performance.

Laguna comments, "The training provided by the project was the key for us to start running our farm as a business. Today we keep records of all farm related activities, keep invoices, analyse our production costs and look for ways  to be more efficient. We used to sell our coffee pulped but wet, as we had no equipment to dry the coffee and weren`t aware that we were selling it at a loss. The project provided material to build tunnel dryers enablingus to sell parchment coffee and thus improve our income."

Challenge

In the District of Huila 37% of the population live in rural areas. Half of the rural population is unable to meet its basic needs and 12% live in absolute poverty. While the natural conditions for growing coffee of high quality are very good, agricultural practices and post-harvesting/ processing techniques need to be improved.

The farmers in the project area did not have the necessary know-how to ensure quality from the tree actually to the point of being a marketable product. Since they were selling the coffee as cherries or wet, value addition was very limited, leading to low income. Moreover, they were working as individual farmers foresaking the benefits of being part a business oriented organisation.

Actions Taken

A comprehensive training programme was set up to convey sustainable production practices and the skills to produce and market high quality coffee through solid farmer owned organisations. Tools to analyse and plan all farm activities were introduced to raise efficiency and enable continuous improvement.

A specific support programme for children and youth was established to improve school and professional education as well as to develop leadership skills and entrepreneurial thinking.