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Access to markets case studies
Café Femenino Café Femenino is the trademark for the coffee produced by a group of women members of the Central de Cafetaleros del Nor Oriente (CECANOR), a Peruvian coffee producers' association. Café Femenino is the result of a strategic alliance of three different entities and partners: - A local non-profit organization, the Centre for Research, Training, Evaluation and Advocacy of Chiclayo, Peru (CICAP), which founded CECANOR and is responsible for providing overall organizational guidance and for finding market opportunities for the association
- CECANOR, the small-scale rural coffee producers’ association whose role is to address its members' needs for technical assistance, capacity-building, organic farming certification and social certification for fair trade
- Promotora de la Agricultura Sustentable (PROASSA), is a company established with financial support from CICAP and CECANOR is a shareholder in it. PROASSA's role is to search for new and better markets for CECANOR's coffee and to position emerging brands
New roads were created to give access to coffee plantations, but some roads are in better condition than others.
Credits: IFAD/A.Manikowska, 2007 | Café Femenino was created to enable women coffee producers to obtain their share of benefits from coffee growing. A study conducted by a member of PROASSA indicates that the causes of marginalization and subordination of women are both cultural and economic. Both aspects need to be addressed simultaneously by increasing women’s self-esteem and recognizing their valuable role in society, and by generating new sources of income through profitable activities. The main scope of the operation was to create a brand that would give higher value to coffee produced by women through ‘special coffee’ certifications, organic farming and fair trade marketing channels. As a result Café Femenino brought about important social and cultural changes, including: - increased interest and participation by women in managing the organization
- a change in the attitude of men, who now accept and facilitate women's participation
- a new market niche that has been built and gives added value to women's work
- a source of income for some 300 women for seasonal coffee selection activities
- access to finance through communal banks for developing the activity or covering household-related expenses
- construction of rural roads to access plantations and reduce transportation costs, which also improved the overall access of the population to health centres and schools
Lessons learned
| Markets and marketing opportunities The strategy for accessing the market is good, but there seems to be no strategy for making that access sustainable. Café Femenino as an international brand is not owned by the association, and the brand could be used in the future to sell coffee produced by other women. This is a potential risk. The producers seem to have only one market outlet — the fair trade market in the United States of America. This is another potential risk. Organization and leadership The association ensures that coffee producers will sell their entire production to them by helping them financially when times are rough — producers receive US$50 towards the end of the season when they may be short on funds. All of the women's income is reinvested in the coffee plantation and in the household, while it is not clear where the men's money goes. Technology and innovation - Creating the Café Femenino trademark was a major innovation that brought additional income to women and to the region.
Business management To ensure quality standards, sanctions are rigorously enforced. Men and women sell the same coffee, but women receive more money for it. It is not clear how the two productions are separated during harvesting. Producers seem to have no information on the management of the business. It is difficult for the association and its members to make informed decisions. | Source: IFAD
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Doña Maria sells her coffee to Café Femenino. Although the whole family contributes, the coffee she produces is worth more than that produced by her husband.
Credits: IFAD/A.Manikowska, 2007
Specific goals of the visit were to: learn about the organizational structure of the Café Femenino business learn about the impact Café Femenino has had on the livelihoods of rural women producers learn about the importance of branding, added-value and positioning in the search for new market possibilities learn about the various stages of coffee production, processing and marketing through the testimony of women producers
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