Today 385 producers export their coffee to the world, improve their quality of life and contribute to reducing deforestation in the protected area that gives it its quality.
On December 12, 2014, it was raining hard in Aguas Verdes (Rioja, San Martin), a reminder of the stormy comings and goings that the initiative suffered before seeing the light of day. "As subscribers to the agreements we had problems with the rondas campesinas*, because they saw us as traitors," says Idelso, Manager of COOPBAM.Today it could be said that the gray clouds have dissipated.
But today, eight years after its creation, COOPBAM is in a much better place. In 2020 it managed to export more than 335 tons of coffee, with sales equivalent to more than 1.3 million dollars. Japan, Australia, Italy and the USA are among its main markets and the list of potential customers is growing. How can this success in sales be explained? As Idelso says, "we not only sell coffee, we also sell a story".
COOPBAM's history is the story of its members, migrant farmers from Cajamarca, Amazonas and Piura, who saw the opportunity for a better life in this part of Peru's northern jungle. "I came to San Martin because from a very young age I had my own family, so my plans were to work hard to get something of my own. That's how I came to the Alto Mayo Protected Forest (AMPF)," recounts Gricerio Carrasco, a founding member of the cooperative and also one of the first signatories of Conservation Agreements.
A story of sustainable coffee farming in the Alto Mayo Protected Forest.
Like Gricerio, the vast majority of COOPBAM's 385 members, 73 of whom are women, live within the protected area or its Buffer Zone and are committed to protecting its forests. One of the first great achievement of this cooperative was to be the first of its kind within a protected area in all of Peru, only possible with the support of the National Service of Natural Areas Protected and Conservation International.
COOPBAM IN DATA
THE COOPERATIVE THAT INVESTS IN NATURE AS WELL AS IN EDUCATION
"We started with 208 subscribing farmers with organic certification, of which only 79 harvested in 2015," says Idelso Fernandez about the first container of coffee exported that first year, a figure far from the 15 containers exported in 2020. Today COOPBAM is recognized for its quality coffee with a value 30% higher than the market. Additionally, thanks to its great financial capacity, COOPBAM will have their own collection center in Rioja.
Yet, the most important change generated by COOPBAM is expressed in its social sensitivity. It has installed satellite internet for the benefit of 71 schoolchildren and provided food baskets and sanitary equipment to all its members during the first critical months of the pandemic. "I believe that all coffee growers have great opportunities with the cooperative," says the COOPBAM manager, leaving the door open to anyone who wants to become a member and become a part of this story of change.