Cooparm

COOPARM's Social Impact

Upon his appointment as General Manager of COOPARM in 2014, Ramiro spoke with COOPARM's Founder about the challenges faced by the organisation. Ramiro said:

“The co-op is the only source of economic support in the town ... Let's see what we can do. Let's try and help people.”  

This socially responsible approach to business remains evident today.

Angelica Hernandez, Head of Logistics, told us: 

“Ramiro has a very firm social programme policy. He says, ‘if we are not doing it for social reasons, what are we doing it for?” 

Community Support

Licely Vela Collantes, COOPARM farmer, told us that COOPARM regularly support her community, which is home to around 20 families. She said: “There’s a bridge (the community uses) to get to work, which COOPARM help to maintain ... at the school, which is where we live, there is a football pitch. The co-operative brings us together and we cut the grass there to make sure that it is clear and usable.”

Regarding the impact this has had on her community, Licely said: 

“People are more united. There have been improvements in collaboration.”

In addition, COOPARM has held coffee cupping workshops with local communities to encourage the consumption of coffee and increase the knowledge of the commodity, such as its characteristics and roasting processes.

Technical Assistance

Poor crop management is an ongoing challenge in the coffee industry. In some cases, farmers do not know what their soils need and they lack technical assistance. Particularly, soil degradation affects the long-term viability of coffee production as the soil is unable to produce healthy, resilient crops. This is exacerbated by the impacts of climate change.

Conversely, healthy soils help to use mineral fertilisers more efficiently, foster pest and disease control, improve water retention and store soil carbon. COOPARM have conducted soil fertility conservation activities, such as establishing dead barriers, windbreaks, terraces, hedges and planting techniques. 

Armando Chuan, COOPARM Delegate, told us: 

“...we have to maintain soil quality. That makes a big difference to the coffee growers."

Maurillo Ocampo, former Board President of COOPARM, said: 

“From our side, as managers of the co-operative and as representatives of our producers, in every campaign – every year – we are committing even more to improve the quality of our product.”

COOPARM has assisted in the renewal of 400 hectares of coffee fields – growing 750,000 coffee plants – to improve production levels for producers. Meanwhile, technicians and engineers of the co-operative have delivered technical assistance to members directly on their farms, involving talks and practical guidance on topics such as pruning, fertiliser application and organic practices.

Since 2019, a project focussed on improving post-harvest processes has also equipped over 50 members from the Omia and Shihua districts with equipment such as solar dryers and water tanks for drying and washing coffee.

Environmental Protection

Improving water and waste management systems is another objective for COOPARM. The co-operative has conducted workshops to promote the balanced use of water resources, as well as to encourage the conservation of headwaters.

COOPARM have introduced water treatment projects, involving the construction of disposal pits to enable the filtration and purification of coffee wastewater.

COOPARM members also receive direct support for the treatment of waste. Through awareness campaigns, the co-operative has increased members’ understanding of waste collection and classification systems. Meanwhile, all members are required to have their own composters to facilitate the decomposition of organic waste into organic fertiliser.

COOPARM Delegate, Armando, told us: 

“It is very difficult now to get fertiliser. We used to get this from a government department who would provide this. Now we have started to produce our own to make good use of the organic  material we have.”

Gender Equality

In Peru, gender inequality marks the coffee sector. Women engage in 55% of coffee production tasks, yet own 15% of farmland and receive 5% of relevant training available . 

Speaking about life in her community, Elizabeth Arista Salazar, COOPARM farmer, told us: 

“People do what suits them best ... We are very united, rural people and the men and the women support each other equally if anyone needs help.”

COOPARM also have a Women’s Committee which promotes and supports the voices and activities of female members. In addition to farming, Elizabeth is the President of the Women’s Committee. 

Regarding the committee, Elizabeth said:

“This is my second year as President ... During the pandemic, the committees couldn’t work at all, so we are putting a lot of extra effort into getting coordinated to share information and skills.”

COOPARM farmer Jairo Rodriguez Vargas said: 

“(The Women’s Committee) focuses on the work of female members, as well as the wives and partners of male members. It carries out training in livestock management, such as raising chickens to collect eggs.”

The Women’s Committee receives a small amount of Fairtrade Premium each year. 

Elizabeth said: 

“We meet to decide what to do with it. We might buy seeds. We might use the money to support a female member who is ill or who is in particular need at any time

“The main vision for the Women’s Committee is that we are given visibility of women’s issues and women’s needs - as mothers, as well as producers … We don’t have much in the way of resources ourselves … We are the people who select the grains to get a good harvest. 

In this area, women have a very important role … here, we do not have a gender distinction, we work hard and do incredible things.” 

Helping COOPARM Respond to Global Challenges

Since its inception, social impact has been synonymous with COOPARM. Ramiro credits founder Father Arana with purchasing the community's first ambulance, improving local access to water and building roads and schools. Beyond the community, COOPARM continues to implement projects which support livelihoods of farmers across the region, building their resilience to the impacts of climate change and comprehensively supporting preharvest and postharvest activities.

Infrastructure

In Peru, the 2020 harvest coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in complex challenges such as road closures and limited cargo, courier and banking services. The movement of coffee was impeded and coffee shipments were delayed (Sucafina, 2022) . This issue was compounded by an already underdeveloped infrastructural network, which, like many within Peru’s coffee industry, remains an ongoing challenge for COOPARM.

Bruno Biaggi Vidal, Shared Interest Lending Manager for South America, told us: “From a farmland to a ‘main road’, the way is really bad. In most cases, farmlands are located in mountains; I have visited farmlands where children need to walk one hour down the mountain to a main road, to then wait for transport to go to school.”

Speaking about the process of transporting members’ coffee from Mendoza to Paita, the primary port of northern Peru, Angelica Hernandez, Head of Logistics, told us: “The road is a never-ending problem … It's difficult to travel along.”

In response, during 2020 and 2021, the co-operative implemented mobile collection points with owned and rented vehicles. Following co-ordination with members and community leaders, COOPARM continue to pick up coffee at designated collection points almost every day of the week.

Coffee farmer Elizabeth Arista Salazar, told us: 

“A COOPARM truck will come out to collect (the sacks of coffee), which is better for the member as they do not have to pay for transport. That is a facility that the co-operative offers us as producers – we need that help.”

Climate Change

We spoke to Ramiro about how climate change is impacting COOPARM. He told us that now, good quality coffee grows up to 2,200 metres in altitude, compared to previous standards of 2,000 metres.

Ramiro said: 

“You get good coffee at that height, which never happened before ... and lower down, the quality is increasingly poor. So, the growing range is going up. The other thing is plant diseases … We realised that we must do something, and that is why we started investing increasingly in reforestation.”

In December 2022, COOPARM launched two environmental projects for the renovation of 580 hectares of land suitable for planting trees. The projects involved replacing diseased coffee trees with improved coffee varietals, and benefitted at least 89 members of the co-operative from the Omia, Shiua, Tuemal, Mito and San Juan de Oquish districts.

In 2017, COOPARM introduced an agroforestry programme in collaboration with the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture. The programme involved planting 100,000 trees within coffee farms to provide shade for plants, whilst offering access to wood markets in the mid-term.

COOPARM delegate Armando expanded on the necessity of these projects, saying:

“We need to make sure we don’t damage or destroy woodland. We keep a percentage of shade, avoid cutting the forest for timber and allow as much flora and fauna as possible.”

To support the renovation of farms within the region, COOPARM has produced seedling coffee plants and sold them to their members and local farmers at low prices. The co-operative's efforts to involve communities in agroforestry is considered crucial for its successful implementation among smallholders.

COOPARM have also developed forest tree nurseries to improve quality of life for their members.

Elizabeth told us:

“It is very important for us as farmers to work with nature and the environment. To breathe clean air. Looking after the trees boosts morale."

Rural-to-urban Migration

In Peru, internal rural-to-urban migration of indigenous people has increased since the 1980s . Today, four in five Peruvians reside in and around urban areas.

A lack of opportunity for people in rural areas remains the main driver of mass migration to urban centres, whilst rural development is constrained by limited access to markets, financial services and public goods.

Elizabeth has been a member of COOPARM since 2012. She lives in Rodriguez de Mendoza with her husband and three daughters.

She said: 

“It is hard for us ... the children have to go into the city to study, we do not have a university in our province. They need to go away to study, to better themselves.”

Climate resilience mechanisms such as agroforestry are difficult to implement at scale without local support. Demographic and socio-economic pressures such as migration subsequently contribute to changes in landscape such as deforestation, increased cropping intensity and changes in land use, adversely affecting the larger ecosystem.

COOPARM have acknowledged this challenge by developing training facilities and initiatives for their members.

Armando said: 

“We have to motivate families to encourage future generations to carry on."

“We have focused on involving farmers in production processes and how the businesses work ... We have improved post-harvest processes and implemented training on this, and it has had a positive outcome as members understand how to complete this themselves.”

COOPARM farmer, Jairo Rodriguez Vargas told us: 

“The technical team for each area gives training in how to use fungicide and COOPARM provides the equipment needed for the whole group.”

Maria Hilmer Acosta, COOPARM farmer, said: 

“There is support from technical staff who visit us in the field and give us training … It has been a great experience advancing the co-op as responsible members and learning everything the technical staff train us and support us in to improve the crop ... We have recently started selling crop to Switzerland and this is a big inspiration to the producers.”

General Manager, Ramiro, said: 

“Because of the co-op, these farmers’ children have been able to go to university. And a lot of those children have come back to coffee, to growing coffee, and now see it as a good thing to farm. Agriculture is a good thing.”