Post harvest training program

A few kilometers east of Cochabamba, at 3253 masl. sits Corani Lake, a unique place in Bolivia because of its temperate weather which never goes over 20° C. Highly fluvial precipitation, and clean air, very coveted for people who want to take a rest of the city in a peaceful atmosphere

Continuing our journey to the East, we arrive at the community of Corani Pampa, taking a slight turn to the north going around 25 km. We arrive to the marvelous zone of what is known to be, the Yungas of Cochabamba.

THE POTENTIAL & THE PROBLEM TO SOLVE

In this region there are 4 special communities that have great potential for specialty coffee, due to its microclimates, rich of virgin soil and high altitudes, this potential also being demonstrated in the national cup of producers by having already 2 winners in this tournament.

Producers in this region come from a whole different world of agriculture than coffee, the reason they started with with coffee is thanks to the “national programme of coffee” a programme aimed to implement the production of coffee in regions suitable for this crop. The downside of this programme? it was limited almost only to give them the plants, leaving the producers with no knowledge of coffee and thus having to work very hard in order to keep up with the casualties the plant is vulnerable to, and not reaching the quality and productivness that the conditions of the area has to offer.

Despite the lack of knowledge, specialty on the post harvest processing, the results were somehow good, Juan Calani with his red catuai from finca “La Pajcha” won the 2021 edition of the national auction of producers with his second harvest! 2022 will be the second harvest of 90% of the producers in this region. So at this point there is no doubt of the richness of the region for coffee plantation.

OUR INTERVENTION

ATOQcoffee is implementing a training program in agronomy and post harvest processing by bringing to Bolivia, expert coffee farmers from Colombia. first around april to make analysis of the zone, target the deficits of the soil to implement a correct fertilization, training producers on harvest and weeding techniques to prevent deseases and increase productivity, all of this by using only organic supplies. Also this first stage of the programme will serve to introduce different fermentation process in order to reduce the usage of water and transfer knowledge of drying methods as well.

The second stage, around August, at the full of the harvest, we will implement the best outcomes of the experimental processing we are currently doing prior to the main harvest, at this stage each lot will be grouped into the same varieties with similar cupping notes and same altitude.

The months previous to the main harvest are currently serving for pilot and experimental fermentations with the so called “graneos” in order to have different results and then see which ones are the most suitable and profitable for the quality of those crops.

Eventually when all the objectives are met we expect to have a standardized output for the 25 families and divide their crops into a maximum of 5 microlots, our project would be a success if we are able to find a market for this in a single lot. This 2022 we are starting with 25 families in San Jose and San Julian, which are two neighboring communities with the most production of coffee.

The master project is to cover the 4 communities that conform the so called Yungas de Cochabamba and find them in international markets.