Hero coffee from Laos

Small, but fine – HAND IN HAND partner CSEC

The Cooperative of Sustainable Eco Coffee, in short CSEC, is a very small, recently founded farmers' cooperative in Laos. Its members grow coffee in traditional agroforestry gardens and have obtained an organic and fair-trade certification some years ago. The peasant families have joined forces with respect to coffee cultivation in order to improve their livelihoods, to protect the environment and to make coffee more popular in Laos.

The peasant families supply Rapunzel with raw Arabica coffee through the HAND IN HAND program. Arabica coffee is known for its extraordinary vanilla and caramel aromas. With its proprietary and externally certified HAND IN HAND program, Rapunzel guarantees more than just fair producer compensation. In addition to excellent organic quality, HAND IN HAND also stands for personal contact at eye level, long-term cooperation and support for local, eco-social projects.

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CSEC in brief

Small peasant cooperative in Southern Laos
Founded in 2019, HAND IN HAND partner since 2021
Cultivation of Arabica coffee in the Bolaven highlands

Arabica from the forest gardens of Southeast Asia

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The highlands of Southern Laos are known for their waterfalls and lush greenery: the Bolaven plateau, a 10.000 km² region of volcanic origin has very nutrient-rich soil. Thanks to the fertile soil, the relatively moderate tropical climate and regular precipitation, the plateau offers perfect conditions for coffee cultivation.

Here, 37 peasant families from the CSEC Cooperative farm their forest gardens in accordance with ecological agroforestry principles. The forest gardens have an average size of five hecartes and are located at altitudes of up to 1,200 meters. Four small peasant families supply Rapunzel with coffee beans - a small, but fine fair-trade partnership.

HAND IN HAND makes the difference for the members of CSEC

Coffee drying at the Bounyang peasant family

Hero coffee Laos, whole beans HAND IN HAND

Fair trade opens new venues

Supported by the HAND IN HAND program, the CSEC Cooperative establishes fair, local conditions. The cooperative helps farmers with the marketing of their coffee and they ensure a consistent, high quality. The small peasants receive fair and stable prices for their coffee harvest. The cooperative allows for pre-payments of up to 40%. In addition, the cooperative provides farming equipmeent and offers its members regular trainings and workshops.

The cooperative was only founded in 2019. Therefore, only a few, fundamental projects could be implemented with the fair-trade bonus so far. All farmers, for example, were issued passports that they used for opening their own bank accounts. Now, the wages are transferred directly to the farmers' accounts. This increases the financial security and improves transparency.

The cooperative also established a fund for medical emergency aid that the members can use in times of need - making them independent of credit usury in case of emergency situations.

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