STiR coffee and tea magazine

48 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 5, 2018 (October / November) The sustained decline in prices and the effects of climate change and land erosion forced many to abandon efforts to get back into producing coffee. A plethora of programs and initia- tives are working – more-or-less efficiently – to fix problems affecting coffee growers during the 52-year conflict. But USAID has noted chronic overlap and non-coordination among them. On the other side of that issue are the decommissioned fighters who need to find a constructive place in society. Many joined the conflict while quite young and have never worked. In January of this year, Jean Arnault, head of the UN Verifica- tion Mission in Colombia, told the Security Council "Colom- bia's peace efforts remain challenged by the task of reintegrating 14,000 former rebel combatants." There are a few private initiatives underway for them as well as government and NGO programs. Last spring Italian roaster illycaffè stepped up to deploy its extensive knowledge and tech- nical resources to train more than 600 ex-rebels in the Cauca region to be successful coffee growers. The group also includes ex-fighters and small producers from La Elvira, Los Monos, Caldono, Patria, Monte Redondo, and Miranda in the far north- eastern reaches of Colombia. Illycaffè is all in Illycaffè had already begun expanding its purchases of Colom- bian coffee by double digits between 2015 and 2017, buying in- cursions into parts of the country that were unreachable during the violence. Now those areas have opened up, and the Italian company in May signed an agreement with Ascafè, an associa- tion of small specialty coffee growers, designating tracts of land recovered from illegal occupiers in 20 of the main coffee-grow- ing departments of the country. Former rebels who agree to remain in their designated ETCR (Territorial Spaces for Training and Reintegration) for training also qualify for housing under the Colombian Agency for Rein- tegration (ARN). The Cauca Coffee initiative with Ascafè and the Comité de Cafeteros del Cauca "enables Illy to provide incentives to for- mer insurgents to work in an industry that offers a concrete legal and profitable option," said illycaffè chairman Andrea Illy. The agreement guarantees illycaffè will purchase the coffee produced through the initiative for several years—provided the product meets illycaffè's quality standards. "It wouldn't make sense to train the growers to use the best agricultural practices and insist on quality if we do not intend to establish a long-term business relationship," he said. Illycaffè is also participating in the drive to stabilize prices for growers. "We decided to apply a fixed price for several years to insulate these producers from the uncertain dynamics of the New York and London exchanges. This creates price security for us and for former fighters, enabling them to develop a legal livelihood that will be economically sustainable over time," Illy explains. Illy is also mindful of social and environmental aspects. In 95% of cases the local population accepts the return of former fighters, because they understand that it is necessary to continue the process of reintegration. The situation is more dif- ficult in those areas such as Cauca that are still growing coca. "We want to tangibly contribute to the complex peace pro- cess, working alongside the people and the organizations that are joining forces to make this happen quickly," Illy emphasized. In Meta, Nariño, and Norte de Santander departments for- mer fighters continue to desert the ETCR. In the Cauca region, thanks to the option of coffee production, there were no desert- ers. Coffee has joined former fighters and armored the peace process, according to Illy. Based on government estimates, "the revival of coffee farm- ing in the former conflict zones could boost Colombia's coffee output by 40%. That would raise global supplies of mild arabica beans by about 13%," he said. The combination of farmers returning to their abandoned land and other smallholders switching to coffee could help boost the country's total output to a record 20 million 60-kg bags by 2020, up from 14.2 million bags in 2016, according to government estimates. "We are implementing in Colombia and in Cauca the same principles that we apply in other countries where we buy our green coffee," Illy said, describing the program's three-pronged approach: working hand-in-hand with producers either individually or in af- filiation with others; sharing knowledge that enables growers to achieve higher standards of production; and paying them at a level that makes their production economically sustainable." The land formalization campaign along with the initiatives for reintegrating former combatants will cement property rights, re- deploy unused land to economically productive, legal agriculture, and help heal the wounds of half a century of conflict by employ- ing and reconciling ex-FARC rebels with communities. And ulti- mately it will strengthen Colombia's world-renown coffee sector, which has always been emblematic of the best of Colombia. It's a task far from completed, but with high-profile participants from the global coffee sector like illycaffè, chalk up one more well- paved stretch on the road to post-conflict peace and prosperity. Ex-rebel in Cauca training to farm and process coffee Andrea Illy, center, with Walter Mendoza, holding agreement

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