Bohorquez Family

Perhaps one of our favorite producers that we work with has to be the bohorquez family, with their story of pioneerism in the region, and their high values to preserve and respect their land to the work ethic, the bohorquez family have a story to be told and set as example for us all.

Located at the north of Yungas going a few kilometers on the principal road that connects the departament of La Paz with Beni sits the canton Carrasco la Reserva, a well preserved region that has been serving agriculture only since 1995. Antonio Bohorquez and Filomenaa Vargas (his wife) were one the first families to arrive to the zone, coming from Potosi and looking for better opportunities they settle ( which then will be legalized with the reforma agraria ) in the region with a few others to start working the land, the first years were very difficult, tells Antonio, since they were left on their own without the correct instruments to clean the mountain in order to be able to cultivate, and the absence of roads connecting this region to the province of Caranavi, just the idea of going to caranvi to get prime necessity goods had to be well planned took a hole day or two to realize. with hard work and helped by the sawmills that worked in the region they managed their way.

So antonio and Filomena stated their journey with coffee, first they worked many years producing and hoarding for a cooperative, with the decline of this one they decided to sell their farm and buy another one that hasn’t been treated until they bought it, here they work the farm with their sons, evert and rene.
this year will be their ninth harvest, they produce mainly red catuai the extension of their land is 11 ha. but they only have 3 ha planted with coffee, the rest is preserved as natural wilderness, also the 3 ha of coffee is al under natural shadow given by tall wooden trees such us wild pine and a tree known by the folks as “siquili” in a minor scale they also have mara and oak. This richness in faun allows a vast number of species to have house, especially among the birds, in the farm you can find toucans, woodpeckers, parrots and turkeys, the love to have such diversity in their farm, that’s the main reason they decided to preserve the cultives small even if they have a lot space to grow, recently they wanted to implement a new variety of citrus downhill in the lowest high of their land near to the river sabaya, they found a family of monkeys living there, so they decided to preserve the area.

They also never used any type of agro chemicals for their production, the fertile soil and the natural shadow allowed the plants to grow healthy year after year, as a result we have one of the cleanest cups, with a very high yield of first selection coffee, one of our projects is in deed help them get the proper international certifications.

The family is very humble, they live easily and work as a family in their farm with eventual workers during the harvest whom are well attended by Filomena who cooks for them, it’s always a pleasure to visit them and their coffee is a must try.