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Public-Private Platform Promoting Prosperity and Sustainable Coffee
Production in Cajamarca
Proposal for: Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE)
1. PROJECT DATA
- Geographic scope: Cajamarca, Peru. According to data from 2018, Cajamarca is Peru’s second
largest coffee producing area.
o Number of producers: 20,000.
o Total area with coffee production: 60,087 hectares (70% have organic and/or Fair-
Trade certification)
o Average productivity: 1,130 kilos per hectare per year
o Total production within the region: 67,897 tons
o International certifications present: Fair-Trade, Bird-Friendly, Rainforest Alliance,
organic labels, etc.
- Implementing organisation: XYZ Foundation
- Intervention time: 24 months
- Platform Partners: 1) United Nations Development Program - UNDP (facilitator in Peru of the
National Coffee Action Plan); 2) National Coffee Board (JNC); 3) Regional Technical Coffee
Commission – Cajamarca; 4) Corporación Alto Marañon; 5) Red de Técnicos del Norte; 6)
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP); 7) coffee buying companies such as Perhusa,
Olam, Sustainable Harvest and Cassiopeia Café; and other actors join in the course of the
intervention.
- Support Framework: National Coffee Action Plan 2018-2030
2. PROPOSAL SUMMARY
In the past ten years, world coffee production has grown significantly. This does not go hand in
hand with coffee prices, which remain highly volatile as a consequence of years of
overproduction, speculation and climate change, amongst others. In 2018 and 2019, price
volatility has meant large economic losses for most small-scale coffee producers.
In Peru, coffee is the main agricultural export product. Approximately 223,000 families cultivate
coffee on a total of 425,400 hectares (CENAGRO, INEI, 2012); 85% are small-scale farmers and
own between 1 and 5 ha. According to data from 2018, Cajamarca is Peru’s fifth region in terms
of numbers of hectares under coffee production, i.e. 60,087 hectares; in terms of production
volume, Cajamarca is Peru’s second region, with yearly 67,897 tons of coffee being produced by
about 20,000 coffee producers. Cajamarca forms part of Peru’s “Coffee Belt of Excellence”, which
includes several regions in the North-East: Cajamarca, Amazonas and San Martin.
Coffee producers show a low level of competitiveness and social and environmental sustainability
in the management of their farms; hence, opportunities to achieve a living income
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from coffee
production are low. Considering the current international coffee price, and comparing this with
the levels of productivity and production costs, the income of an average coffee producing family
isn´t enough to ensure all essential needs, such as food and optimal living conditions, let alone
other investments benefiting family members.
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Living income is the net income a household would need to earn to enable all members of the household to afford a
decent standard of living. Elements of a decent standard of living thereby include: food, water, housing, education,
health care, transport, clothing, and other essential needs including provision for unexpected events. (Living Income
Practitioners ‘Workshop hosted by ISEAL & GIZ, Eschborn, February 2015)