Bolivian organic coffee farmers target niche markets

May is the start of the harvest for the Yungas cooperatives and red coffee berries hang heavy on their branches in the shade of mandarin trees and banana plants. Everywhere, families are at work, picking, hulling and sun-drying the coffee beans on which their rural way of life depends.

"Our coffee compares well with coffee from Jamaica or Central America but it's not so well-known. We still need to earn the confidence of buyers," said expert coffee taster and grower Martin Oluri, adding that the region's coffee is characterized by chocolate, honey and citrus flavors.

Much of the area's Arabica crop is grown between 1,400 and 1,800 meters (4,620 to 5,940 feet) above sea level which promotes high acidity -- something prized by connoisseurs. Yungas farmers have always farmed traditionally and almost all their coffee is cultivated without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Soil erosion on the steep slopes is avoided by mixing with citrus trees, bananas and coca -- the main ingredient of cocaine which has also been grown in the Yungas for centuries.

Global coffee prices on the conventional coffee market have picked up slightly in recent years, but Yungas farmers are striving to capitalize on specialty markets that value their small-scale, environmentally friendly production methods.

FAIR TRADE

About three-quarters of the producers in the area around the town of Caranavi, Bolivia's coffee-growing capital, have earned an "organic" classification and many also qualify for the "fair-trade" stamp. The latter enforces strict working conditions such as jobs for women and no child labor, but guarantees a minimum price for their coffee higher than in the mainstream market.

"The price has improved but a lot of that depends on how well-organized the cooperative is," said Constantino Surco, a member of the Antofagasta cooperative which, like many, is supported by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). "All the farmers have a decent house and basic services now," he added.

Coffee remains a modest export-earner in Bolivia, South America's poorest country, though it is a pillar of the economy in the Yungas, where peasant farming dominates.

Last year, coffee exports brought in a little over $11 million according to figures from the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE), making it the 20th-biggest export.

The aim of the Caranavi cooperatives is to consolidate their position in the niche markets of Europe and the United States, increase exports and perfect their coffee.

"We're working hard to improve our production methods because we want to achieve a very high quality," said Modesto Machaca, of the CIANA cooperative near the village of Carrasco La Reserva, some 200 kilometers northeast of La Paz. CIANA exports to the Netherlands and the United States.

A little farther up the road, the Antofagasta cooperative sells its coffee beans to the United States, Germany and France, and Surco said the next challenge was to expand.

"One of the difficulties is that the market wants bigger volumes and it's difficult to find space here," he said, gesturing at the steep, thickly forested hills where farmers have been making their small, shady plots since the area was first colonized 30 or 40 years ago.

GREATER CARE

An average farmer produces about 25 100-pound sacks a year, according to FECAFEB, a federation representing about 30 coffee producing organizations in and around Caranavi.

Some farmers, who shun the cooperatives' strict production rules, still sell to the far less lucrative local market. While a sack of organic dried beans for export currently sells for around $140 on the fair trade market, the same weight of dried, unshelled berries fetches only about $30 if sold locally.

In the conventional export market, a sack currently fetches about $100.

"The rules are strict if you want to export to Europe, but more and more people are joining them," said Angel Mamani of international NGO ActionAid, which supports several cooperatives.

He said farmers are taking greater care to ensure their beans are washed with clean water and dried and transported separately from other crops such as onions and fruit that might taint the coffee with smells or humidity.

FECAFEB is currently working with the government on a plan to boost exports. "We produced less than 100,000 sacks last year and our plan is to double that in under five years," said Vice President Policarpio Ali Cruz.

In the front yard of his simple farmhouse, the coffee taster Oluri said he was optimistic about the future.

"Our coffee is really special," he said as he hurriedly covered a table of drying beans from a sudden rain shower. "And this looks like it's going to be a good harvest."

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