At Easter, the cooperative CCALMA – Cooperativa Café Local Maubisse – was finally established, and will already be producing coffee that will be shipped directly to Norway by the summer! The cooperative initially consists of 14 farmers and a local administrator.
Through our network in East Timor, we have come into contact with a group of farmers in the area around Maubisse in the Ainaru region who are very keen to collaborate with Konfiansa. For the past five years, they have been selling 'regular' coffee to conventional players, but the potential for good coffee in the area is high.
Maubisse is located at an altitude of around 1,500 meters, and is located on the east side of East Timor's highest mountain, Ramelau (3,006 meters).
The farmers in the area mainly produce Arabica (Hibrido de Timor), and it is this variety that the cooperative will work with. The coffee from this cooperative will arrive in Norway in the winter of 2025!
Why has Konfiansa established this cooperative and why these farmers in Maubisse?
Firstly It was important for us to work with farmers who were not previously part of a value chain where they had access to a lot of help, resources and an offer of better payment for good quality. In this way, we give farmers an offer they would not otherwise have. In other parts of East Timor (and in other coffee-producing countries) there is a lot of competition for farmers who produce good coffee. For us, however, the most important thing is to help those who need help the most.
Secondly so it was important to work with farmers who want to develop and improve their own coffee production. An important principle we try to strive for is that production should take place on the farmer's terms. It is therefore very important that the development is initiated and controlled by the farmers themselves.
Thirdly We believe that cooperatives are a good way to organize production. In this way, each farmer has one voice in decision-making processes, and the cooperative can support farmers who are struggling with their crops, etc. Cooperatives are also a way to democratize local power structures, which in many places in East Timor are very elite-oriented and where middlemen get away with large sums of money.
Konfiansa and CCALMA
The cooperation with the cooperative takes place on several levels. We buy the coffee farmers at a very good price: In the first year, we plan to buy coffee where the farmer gets 4.3$/KG green bean (of which about 60 cents goes to the cooperative). This is about twice as good as they would otherwise have received. At the same time, this requires a little more effort in production, but hopefully not to the detriment of other activities.
In addition, all the profits Konfiansa has from the coffee produced here will go back to the local community. Since this is not applicable until 2025, the system is not completely nailed down, but it is very likely that the cooperative will receive a significant share of this profit. Another part of the profit will probably also go to Kria dalan to work on a social project in the local area.
The Konfiansa model is the starting point for how we connect Norwegian consumers and Timorese coffee farmers in an efficient, direct and supportive way. Through such a model, we believe that together we can contribute to improving the lives of poor farmers and their families.
