The Dominican Republic
FEDECARES is a group of cooperatives led by the highly dynamic and committed Maria Isabel Balbuena, bringing together growers from 13 provinces on the island farming a total of 17 000 hectares of plantations.
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7 000growers
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16 tonnespurchased by Malongo
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2008LAUNCH DATE FOR THE PARTNERSHIP
FEDECARES
The FEDECARES cooperative was launched after Hurricane David devastated the region and has existed officially since 1985. It obtained Flo-Fairtrade certification in 1997. The cooperative currently federates several thousand families of growers, who produce and systematically hand pick top-quality Typica and Caturra Arabica coffees.
The cooperative also organises other activities in addition to coffee growing, such as encouraging vegetable- and legume-type garden crops.
COFFEE BY WOMEN
Our “coffee by women” is fair trade coffee exclusively produced by the female coffee growers operating as part of the Dominican association, ADOMUCA. These ladies are the heads of their households and manage their plots single-handedly. ADOMUCA has been a member of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance since 2011 and is chaired by Maria Isabel Balbuena, the manager of the FEDECARES cooperative, which supports growers.
ENSURING SEVERAL SOURCES OF INCOME
ADOMUCA, in cooperation with the Malongo Foundation, is also organising a project to diversify agroforestry coffee plots by planting avocado and banana bushes, which provide plenty of shade. This project is part of a global replantation policy launched after the coffee rust episode in 2014, which had decimated the plots.
The program aims to guarantee the long-term viability of coffee farms by ensuring that the families have a secure supply of food and creating additional income, preventing these women from become totally dependent on coffee production.
Malongo obtains two exceptional Arabica coffees from the FEDECARES cooperative, grown in very different conditions, at an altitude of between 800 and 1 500 metres and harvested between November and February: BANI and BARAHONA.
Malongo continues its cooperation programme targeting fair trade year after year (by prefinancing harvests, purchasing coffee at special rates, etc.) on the basis of trust and peace of mind. But here, just like on the continent, new projects have been launched to handle the problem of coffee rust and create complementary sources of income.
Funding was provided to set up nurseries for grafted avocado plants while secondary initiatives are also being launched: grafting training sessions, plot replanting, production of lombri-compost and creation of small businesses able to sell the new products independently on a long-term basis
