Cencoic

Cencoic is a group that DRW have been working with since 2008. They are a cooperative comprised of indigenous reserves in the Cauca region and they also export their own coffee. Years of armed conflict in the region have given way to a more stable and peaceful time allowing Cencoic to flourish. Cencoic has seen steady growth over the last 5 years as more and more families from farming communities in their native geographical reserves are producing the right quality for export. The typical farmer in the cooperative has around 1 hectare of coffee growing land at an average altitude of around 1800 masl. Common varieties include: Caturra, Colombia, Tabi and to a lesser degree, Castillo.

Coffees across all the reserves are de-pulped, fermented & dried at the farm. The farmers deliver their parchment to the local collection warehouse where it is weighed and recorded before being received in to the warehouse in Popayan to be cupped and then dry milled (the process of removing husks and grading coffee) for export at a mill in Popayan before being trucked to the port of Buenaventura.

Working with Fairtrade means they earn premiums for the certified coffee they sell. This will get broken down across a number of projects to benefit the whole group. For 2019 this was mainly focussed on increased productivity and through the implementation of new agricultural techniques and the purchase of agricultural materials and inputs with just over 50% of the premium going towards this. Nearly 18% was diverted to the improvements of the organoleptic qualities of the bean through improvements to the infrastructure and so spent on items directly related to the improvements in wet and dry processing.

The remainder typically gets split across health and social housing products, the reduction of chemical inputs, training, technical assistance, and a savings and investment fund.