Organic-Fair Farming HAND IN HAND-Partner
HAND IN HAND partner ANEI devotes itself to the protection of Mother Earth
Hero coffee from Colombia
HAND IN HAND partner ANEI devotes itself to the protection of Mother Earth
Four indigenous communities collaborate in the Colombian ANEI Cooperative. Their goal is to pursue sustainable and fair coffee cultivation in harmony with nature. Fair trade helps the small peasants and their families to improve their life quality and to secure their wellbeing in the future - keeping alive both their own culture and the natural biodiversity. This makes them heroes.
- Cooperative with indigenous peasants in Norteast Colombia
- 620 peasant families from 67 regions
- founded in 1995, HAND IN HAND partner since 2021
- Cultivation of Arabica coffee in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and in Serranía del Perijá
ANEI was founded by a pioneer
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Northeast Colombia harbors the highest coastal mountains worldwide. Here, farmers and peasants from four indigenous communities - the Arhuacas, Koguis, Kankuamos and the Wiwas - merged into one peasant organization. The goal of the Association of Indigenous Agroecology Producers, abbreviated ANEI, is to strengthen the indigenous community and to secure a good income through direct export of top-quality, fair-trade, organic coffee.
Aurora María Izquierdo Torres, foundress and director of ANEI
Drying the organic, fair-trade Arabica beans
Hero coffee Colombia, whole beans HAND IN HAND
Upon returning home, she initiated a sustainable agricultural program - and founded ANEI. Today, the cooperative includes 620 small peasant families from 67 regions of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the neighboring mountainous region, the Serranía del Perijá.
Fair trade strengthens the indigenous communities
One focus is food security of the people through the cultivation of domestic food products and the installation of fruit gardens and fish ponds. With these projects, ANEI aims to strengthen the local agricultural production and ensures access to sufficient and healthy food products for all the families in the community.
Additionally, ANEI also supports rural schools. The fair-trade premium gives the peasant families financial support for the schooling of their children, for school materials and traditional clothes. Equipping the schools with solar collectors is another projects that ANEI is implementing.
Young people receive stipends for academic education. Education strenghtens both, individuals and the community, and the association can make use of newly acquired knowledge.
Young people receive stipends for academic education. Education strenghtens both, individuals and the community, and the association can make use of newly acquired knowledge.
ANEI offers regular trainings for its members
Quality control. The majority of the employees at ANEI are women
Advancement of women and promotion of the indigenous culture
Women play an important role, both in the indigenous as well as the coffee culture. In the indigenous culture of the Sierra, women are the symbol of Mother Earth, representing fertility, purity and naturalness. ANEI therefore puts a special focus on the protection of Mother Earth and the conservation of nature also with respect to the cultivation of coffee.
ANEI set themselves the task to support the women in the community: with education, trainings and special projects for the marketing of women coffee. Of the 620 members of the Cooperative, 102 are women and the percentage of women in the staff of the organization totals 70 %.
Through the cultivation of coffee, ANEI also wants to strengthen the regional communities. This way, the traditional values of the indigenous culture, their language and the territories of the indigenous people will be protected and restored.
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