BOLIVIA Backgrounder
(based upon Mark and Monika’s recent visit, May 2006)
Monika is the producer liaison for cooperative coffees www.cooperativecoffees.com

The Federation of Exporting Coffee Producers (FECAFEB) was founded in 1991 as a national organization to defend the rights and needs of small-scale coffee farmers. FECAFEB has taken huge steps forward and seems to be right in stride with the new Bolivian political reality in support of Indigenous voice and rights.
  
FECAFEB is currently comprised of 30 coffee producer organizations, representing some 8,700 families. FECAFEB and its member coops have developed in important ways, including: the consolidation of its now 30 cooperative members; a widespread training program for administrative, leadership and quality control improvements offered to 470 cooperative leaders old and new; creating a political space for the voice of small-scale coffee producers to be heard and amplified; and in the sale of 120 containers of coffee primarily into the Fair Trade, Organic and other specialty markets.

Policarpio Ali Cruz is the Vice President of FECAFEB and in charge of commercialization. He is a brilliant representative both for his Fair Trade clients as well as with producer cooperatives. He is also a brilliant listener and eager to learn all he can about markets and marketing. We have been communicating with him for the past year about our coffee needs and for the month prior to our visit to coordinate activities. The coffee tour he organized for us, with that information, met or surpassed our expectations in every way imaginable! 

Monday, May 8
We began our journey, by slowly crawling out of the maze of over-stacked houses that is La Paz. Once outside of the city, we were suddenly surrounded by a strange and desolate landscape of jagged mountains, slate and scrub grass, llama herds and space. Our first stop was at the summit to chayarnos, a tradition of scattering coca leaves and hard spirits at a well-visited stone alter, to bless our journey.

We had already heard quite a bit about the Death Road between La Paz and Coroico. But how bad could it really be, I wondered to myself. The answer came soon enough. After less than half an hour of driving through broad, open spaces – our road suddenly shriveled into a twisting thread of mud and compacted stone... and we were quick to understand where the name comes from!

Bolivia is definitely a white-knuckle ride. It seems that every road we traveled had a sheer wall of rock climbing straight up on one side, and a sheer cliff dropping down – hundreds if not thousands of feet – on the other. But none of them compared to the ride between La Paz and Coroico. Shrouded in mist and dripping of overhead cascade spray, the road is wet, slippery and narrows down unexpectedly to just barely a car’s width again and again and again. Men and women from nearby communities volunteer in exchange for tips from grateful drivers, to stand in particularly deadly, blind curves and signal with red or green plastic flags, indicating if the road ahead is clear of on-coming traffic. These are what Poli call Ecological Streetlights. They say this service has substantially reduced the number of cars going off the cliffs. Once past Coroico, the road opens somewhat, is less wet.... and allowed us to breath just a little bit easier.

This same crazy drive is the road that all the trailers out of Caranavi must take to bring parchment coffee to the dry mills in La Paz in preparation for export.

A little behind schedule, we drove straight to our first visit with Coraca Carrasco. Some 30 members of the organization, including the majority of their full Board of Directors, organic promoters and community reps were there to meet us. After a late lunch, we moved straight into the meeting. Representatives took turns introducing themselves, their organization, and the issues that confront them. Founded in 1996, the organization has grown to include 13 Community Coracas representing some 200 farmer families. They have developed five community washing stations to improve quality consistency, but still struggle to find Fair Trade markets.

“We founded this organization in order to find direct markets and improve the well-being of our communities,” said Carrasco President Patricio Fernandez Bautista. “We want to show the market the kind of quality we are capable of producing.”

This is a phrase we heard often in Bolivia. According to all accounts, private industry in Bolivia has been happy to receive guinda (cherries), paying no attention to fermentation and other quality problems – leading to the bad reputation that Bolivia has historically suffered.

Bolivia is just now pulling itself up from a minus 25 penalty to a minus 15 penalty on the NY-C market. Thanks, say the small-scale producer organizations, to their ability to export directly. But coops that are dealing through FECAFEB are being successful at opening the door the more sustainable, specialty markets.

Looking Forward
Bolivia is definitely in a special moment. Everyone we have met along the way seems to have a smile on their face and a sense of hopeful expectation. With the recent election of Evo Morales as president, suddenly the marginalized campesino has a champion, a platform, and a backdrop of moral and political support in their development plans.

The timing for organizing a first-ever, Fair Trade Cupping and Information Exchange is partially political and partially developmental as FECAFEB is ramping up in an extraordinary way.

FECAFEB is making a very serious and systematic effort to establish quality control mechanisms. They have co-sponsored an extensive administration and leadership training program to support the consolidation of their 30 coop members. In a strictly quality sense, FECAFEB has recently installed a cupping lab (see the attached video clip) and are training cuppers in their staff and in the field. They are serious in their quality commitment and eager to learn and experiment.

The focus on Quality Improvement and Quality Control was a refrain we heard throughout our trip. For the past three years US AID has hosted the “Cup of Excellence” competition and auction. However, this year largely due to the “bad” politics of Evo Morales much of the US AID money (unless tied to coca eradication) has been withdrawn from Bolivia. This event would also come as a healthy replacement to the US AID sponsored “Cup of Excellence.”

The seed idea to host a first ever Fair Trade Cupping and Information Exchange, was planted during our May visit. The focus would be primarily on learning and information exchange and less on choosing a few winners and organizing an auction around the “top 10.” After talking with a few of our own members and some of our closer allies, the idea has germinated and the proposal has taken shape.

For the producers, this will mean giving them critical information directly back from their preferred buyers, as well as giving them marketing information to help them promote their coffee in more advantageous markets with new buyers. 

Bolivia is a country that represents big potential looking forward. So for us, as existing buyers, it will be a great opportunity to better understand what Bolivia has to offer and to reinforce our message of wanting to create a relationship that transcends the common role of being “just another buyer” of Fair Trade coffee.