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Press Release: September/October 2006
New Coffee Association in Peru
Peru - Female farmers in Peru formed their own coffee association, Café Femenino (www.cafefemeninofoundation.org), as a way to earn more money and assert their independence in a historically male dominated country. Café Femenino, a coffee growing cooperative was conceived when 464 women teamed together through the combined efforts of the Organic Products Trading Company, a coffee importing business based in Vancouver, and the women themselves searching for ideas that would improve the conditions of their lives. Gay Smith and her husband, Garth, owners of OPTCO, have worked with coffee cooperatives for 14 years in countries such as Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Uganda.
The women farmers participate in all coffee growing activities-preparing the terrain, the nurseries, and the compost. They fertilize the soil and prepare bio-fertilizers, as well as harvesting, de-pulping, fermenting, and drying of the coffee. Café Femenino is set up so women can participate in selling the coffee or making decisions on how the money from coffee sales will be used, which it is very rare for the industry.
Article found on Tea & Coffee Trade Online