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Colombia faces numerous challenges to peace: it has long been at the center of the illegal drug trade, and has been ravaged by a 40-year civil war. Farmers who simply want to support their families are often forced into the dangerous coca trade because of the attractive financial incentives. Local coca buyers often finance the entire coca growing operation, or at least provide advance payment, thereby making its production more affordable than other crops.
The Gift
To counter the forces of joining the dangerous drug supply chain, alternatives must be provided. Coffee production is a natural choice: Colombia's Andean slopes are uniquely suited to growing high quality coffee.
It's not easy for a farmer to begin growing coffee, much less organic coffee. The transition to organic production takes three years, and when coupled with reduced organic yields, the farmer and his family can be at considerable financial risk.
Your support, through financing from Root Capital (a social investment fund), would support Cosurca, a Fair Trade-certified farmer cooperative serving 700 families in the highlands of Colombia. These family farmers grow organically certified washed Arabica coffee on the slopes of the Colombian Andes, one of the country’s most important watersheds. You will be helping these farmers afford to not grow illegal drugs and to continue their sustainable livelihood built on coffee.
