Every single ripe, red coffee cherry is manually harvested in the Piura highlands and the Amazonas lowlands. The farming grounds of the smallholder peasants that average 2 hectares in size, ressemble colorful forests. Because Arabica coffee trees are not grown in monoculture but are planted between a variety of different shrubs. These shrubs provide shade for the coffee and protect it against wind, they provide the farmers with wood and produce additional fruits such as passion fruits and oranges. Moreover, the mixed culture also enhances the health of all the plants: similar to natural forests, the diversity forms a stable ecosystem.

The bright coffee cherries are harvested between April and October. Every coffee cherry has two seeds, the actual coffee beans. The coffee beans are extracted from the pulp, are fermented, washed and dried in the sun. Subsequently, Norandino processes the manually selected beans in its own processing plant to exportable coffee. The coffee is transported to Germany by ship. In a specialist company, the coffee is roasted and packaged. 

When Norandino started its operation in Northwestern Peru, coffee was practically unknown in the region and local coffee had moderate quality. Moreover, the international conditions were difficult, because the world market price for coffee was low. The Cooperative worked with organic products right from the beginning - against the will of big international corporations - and promoted fair trade. The merger of the smallholder peasants and the cooperation with partners such as Rapunzel was worth it. With HAND IN HAND coffee farmers earn better prices and their living conditions improve. Entire regions profit from this and the Peruvian market for organic, fair trade coffee is growing. 

Today, when it comes to the sustainable cultivation of coffee and cocoa, Norandino is a true model company that is continuing to grow. Here, in the small farmers' cooperative, environmental protection plays a key role. Apart from organic farming, Norandino also has reforestation projects that are located in higher-up cultivation areas. This way, all areas of life in the growing regions benefit, and the Peruvian market for organic fair trade coffee is growing.
 

The long-term trade relation with Rapunzel and guaranteed purchase conditions enable Norandino to create a better future. Thus, the Cooperative can continuously support their members with cultivation advice, loans and investments into the quality of the coffee. 

In addition to this support in the cultivation area, Norandino is also characterised by its provision of fair social benefits for the small farmers: Women and children are supported in entrepreneurial initiatives, and the young generation, in particular, can receive a good education through pre-vocational internships and help with their final theses. 

Coffee and cocoa

At Norandino it's not only about coffee. The sub-cooperative Asociación Norandino San Martin has been growing organic cocoa for several years. Since August 2019, the organization has been HAND IN HAND certified and supplies the finest cocoa for Rapunzel chocolates.
In the high altitudes of the San Martin region, small farmers cultivate areas averaging 3 hectares and receive technical cultivation support from the agricultural engineers of Norandino.

The young generation also sees real future opportunities in organic farming and in the fair cooperation with Rapunzel. Some of the 45 members are the  children of the coffee farmers in Piura. 

Santiago Paz López: "managing things in a dignified way"

"The cooperation with Rapunzel gives us decent work, a dignified income and allows us at the same time to support many coffee producers. Our region develops in a good way; therefore we call it La nueva Colombia, 'the new Colombia', where great advances were made with respect to the improvement of farming methods, the technological development and the improvement of yields and productivity. As a consequence, the producers can invest in the renovation of their houses and they can improve their living conditions. Many of our producers also invested in the education of their children. When we started our work, it was very unusual that somebody visited a university. Today, most of the young people have studied at the university. This is a very interesting and important effect of fair trade and the cooperation with Rapunzel."