1. Business Description
Aproselvanor is an association that was created on February 27, 2015, starting with 50 coffee producers or partners. Its creation aims to improve the quality of life of its members, work that has allowed the association to grow from 50 to 536 members in eight years, of which 145 are women and more than 42 % of its members are young coffee producers; who are a fundamental piece in the process, since ensuring gender equality and inclusion is another of the strategies of the Aproselvanor association. The association grows and sells organic coffee, which is why each year the association certifies organic production with Biolatina in compliance with EU, NOP/USDA standards. Likewise, all members have the FAIR TRADE or Fair Trade certification and a high percentage of them have various international certifications such as USDA, UTZ, RAINFOREST ALLIANCE, among others. These certifications allow us to understand why their product is very well positioned in the international market. One of the association's objectives is the issue of sustainable production, for which the new generations of the producers' families have been included, so that they are the ones who help raise awareness in the rest of the communities.
APROSELVANOR advises and supports its partners and even other producers who are not members, throughout the process of obtaining certifications, such as Rainforest Alliance, through ongoing training on different topics and practical advice for each farm with monthly visits. They guide them in the preparation of information records to facilitate the monitoring of their crops by technicians and provide them with an analysis of their production costs.
2. Production systems
A change is taking place in the production system, where priority is given to the incorporation of wood species into the system, the increase in biodiversity on farms and the protection of the soil through living covers and the incorporation of organic matter. To achieve the above goals, the cooperative supports them in the implementation of good agricultural practices on their farms, promotes organic agriculture and regenerative agriculture.
3. Advances in the gender approach
Strategies are being sought to generate added value to coffee cultivation, a strategy in which the women of the association have been included,8 recently generating their own brand of ground coffee called: coffee of the 8 valleys. To support this initiative, other strategies have been sought to contribute to the sustainable and inclusive improvement of the economic income of the producers, such as the raising of small animals. In this case, breeding guinea pigs were given to the members and they are provided with constant training. The participation of women in the association is 45%, including producers and members of the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board. On the other hand, the producers are linked to “La UNICA de los 8 valles, which is the first credit and savings union made up only of women in the San Martin region. This is a social program promoted by COFIDE, which is a viable alternative for coffee producers to save and access loans with interest rates that benefit them.” In addition, the women coffee growers of Café 8 Valles are strengthening their leadership skills in the financial sector, managing to invest in the production of their coffee plantations, the education of their children and the creation of new projects. Their motto is “Together we are stronger and we go further.”
