Our path: sustainable commodity sourcing

After gaining our Fairtrade certification in 2015, we struggled to find Fairtrade buyers and had to meet our certification costs through loans. After four years of this, we were at risk of decertification in 2019. Thanks to MINKA SCS AG choosing to sign our very first Fairtrade contract, we were able to maintain our Fairtrade certification, and the funds generated from our Fairtrade-certified sales to Minka allowed us to clear all the Cooperative’s outstanding loans which had accumulated due to the certification costs of previous years.

The Fairtrade premium has also enabled the Cooperative to:

– sponsor three girls in higher learning institutions

– improve food security through distribution of cassava cuttings and hand hoes

– construct a washroom at a local primary school

– meet operating costs and increase membership of the Cooperative from 317 farmers in 2019 to 825 in 2022

We are hopeful for a brighter future now that the cooperative has been able to accumulate its own operating capital, thereby allowing farmers to be paid in cash upon their delivery of cocoa to the cooperative. We will forever be grateful for Minka’s trust in our cooperative.

Kallpa Apagro is a non-profit association of smallholders dedicated to the cultivation and sale of cocoa to improve our quality of life. Located in the valley of the rivers Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro, it was founded in 2016 by a group of farmers in response to the socioeconomic crisis engulfing the area due to the extensive cultivation of coca leaves and the resulting presence of insurgent groups in the area.

By working as a Cooperative to gain better prices and benefits for our member farmers, in 2017 we obtained our organic certification and were able to start selling our cocoa to Minka SCS AG. Thanks to the financing from Minka, we have the liquidity to purchase cocoa and the necessary equipment for its collection. The trust Minka has deposited in us allows our business to operate sustainably.

In 2018 we became Fairtrade certified, and the continued support from Minka enabled us to move to a consolidation stage with our partners, wherein the Fairtrade premium has been used to improve various social causes. From building bathrooms for 20 families, to improving the productivity of cocoa plots by providing 62 families with soil analysis and fertilizers, our socioeconomic circumstances continue to improve year on year.

Working with Minka SCS means we have a guaranteed market for our cocoa, which provides reassurance for our members that their entire harvest will be sold and enables us to continue improving the working and living conditions of our members.

After experiencing a severe financial crisis in 2013 to the point of losing our assets, it was the solidarity and support of MINKA SCS AG through the contracts they signed with us that enabled CAT Tocache to recover our assets and build back stronger than we were. Today, the Cooperative is a force for change through its social impact initiatives, which provide hope and opportunities to farming families in a region historically affected by poverty and violence.

Thanks to our collaboration with Minka we have been able to:

– Achieve zero equity indebtedness with national and international banks.

– Maintain our Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Organic certifications.

– Implement Carbon Footprint Reduction Projects, which include planting 75,000 trees of various species in 500 hectares of land belonging to 100 farmers to aid the diversification of their agroforestry systems.

– Deliver 30 fermentation and drying modules to partners with adverse geographic conditions, to enhance their post-harvest process.

– Invest in 6 post-harvest community infrastructures with a capacity of 300 tons/year.

– Implement the Bext 360 traceable blockchain system in our supply chain.

– Increase our cocoa partners from 215 to 481 farmers.

We are very grateful to MINKA SCS AG for their support and advice; over the last 5 years we have really managed to do an efficient job, and this has been instrumental to CAT TOCACHE’s success today.