Audelina Ruiz is a 51-year-old coffee grower from Cubulco, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. She is the mother of 8 children and started in the coffee growing business with her husband approximately 5 years ago.
“In the beginning we had many losses at our coffee farm, we did not know how to control the pests and we did not have money to invest in the farm”, says Audelina.
In 2020, through one of her sons, Audelina learned about the Program “Maximizing Opportunities in Coffee and Cacao in the Americas” (MOCCA) and joined the trainings with the objective of learning how to harvest good coffee and sell it at a better price to earn more income for her family.
“I joined MOCCA’s training because I wanted to learn everything related to good management of coffee cultivation and I also wanted to know how to sell it at a good price” Audelina Ruiz
In the Alta Verapaz region, MOCCA works with VOLCAFE to strengthen the capacities of coffee growing families, providing them with training and best practices to increase their productivity, profitability, and facilitating access to financing through a partnership with Fundación Génesis Empresarial.
“Thanks to MOCCA and Fundación Génesis Empresarial I was given a loan to buy fertilizers and insecticides to control pests. Now my plants produce more fruit and we will harvest better coffee!” Audelina Ruiz
In order to guarantee controlled investments from farmers and have them project their credit needs, MOCCA and Fundación Génesis Empresarial accompany coffee growers throughout the process by providing guidance on financial issues and records they should keep to track the production cycle costs, as well as the calculation of profits from coffee sales.
“I am excited! In my community, women are increasingly involved in the coffee business. Before we were only housewives, but now men have realized that our work has value as well. My husband is happy that I work with him on the farm because together we can make more money and improve our family’s life.” Audelina Ruiz
About Fundación Génesis Empresarial
Fundación Génesis Empresarial, provides access to swift and opportune financing, complementing capacity building and access to genetic material for coffee and cacao farmers in the MOCCA program. FGE has given $10 million USD to benefit 11 thousand farmers to acquire: working capital, purchase of supplies, work equipment, with medium-term investments for the farms.
About VOLCAFE
Together with Peter Schoenfeld S.A., a member of the Volcafe group, MOCCA VOLCAFE strengthens the capacities of two thousand coffee growers in western Guatemala to improve their productivity, quality, access to planting material and financing under better conditions. The company directly connects coffee growers with markets that are willing to pay more for quality coffee through an online platform called Trackvia.
