Brad's blog - day four
meeting the farmers
Today is the main event. We meet Jose Manuel and his family at their farm and spend hours talking coffee, Fairtrade and co-operative matters. He’s a great guy and his wife Maria Berta and three daughters are delighted that we are here. Jose is a very proud man and tells us that his four sons have coffee farms of their own.
We are shown around Jose and Maria's farm and meet their friends – other coffee growers from the Aguadas co-operative who have come over to help Jose harvest the crops. Jose shows us the Fairtrade funded beneficiadero – the equipment that extracts the two coffee beans from the cherry, ready for drying on his roof. However, the last two ‘dry seasons’ have brought only rain, which has reduced the yields by a devastating 70%. All the talk back home about climate change and the contribution to this of food miles... It’s places like Colombia where climate change is hitting hardest, so let’s all start thinking about walking more and wasting less, rather than arguing that those who are already disadvantaged due to the mess we are making of the planet should be further penalised by reducing imports!
After having my hands in coffee trees, I realise that I have several insect bites. The itching soon gives way to aching and stiffness. My hands swell and I can barely move my fingers – one finger has become blue and developed into what appears to be one large blood blister. Up here in the remoteness of the mountains, there are no facilities, so the best I can do is reach for the anti-histamine tablets and antiseptic cream. If it gets worse I will have to travel back to Medellin for treatment.
Having left Jose Manuel’s farm, we visit the home of Jaime Florez, one of the delegates from the Aguadas Co-operative I met previously. His farm is on much steeper ground than that of Jose, and much more typical of the terraces that adorn the mountainsides around the region.
We wait and wait for the rain to clear up, so we can film more harvesting, but eventually have to give up – the rain keeps coming and we are falling well behind schedule and still have four more people to visit. These people are all remote farmers and each will benefit from our donation to the Aguadas Co-operative. Along with the rebuilding of Monteredondo School, our five projects in celebration of the five years of our Fairtrade coffee range will bring some assistance at least.
The house of Luis Ebelio Pineda is little more than a shack. Conditions here are dreadful and about to get worse. Without proper sanitation, the family’s waste water empties directly into the river and the government is threatening to fine them for pollution. They can barely afford to live as it is, and I feel somewhat outraged. But I am as happy as they are relieved when they are told that we can help them avoid this. It doesn’t cost much to install a septic tank and the co-operative nominate Luis Ebelio to benefit from our donation.
Seeing the living conditions at the house brings the mood down, but spirits are lifted once again when we are shown a school nearby, which again is providing real hope. This has been extended thanks to Fairtrade, to allow children to continue into secondary education. The upper floor is simply, but nicely, furnished and decorated, and the new building feels a really wonderful learning environment.
From here it's on to the home of Alba Nelly, a married lady with two sons. She is another one of the delegates I met at the co-operative and another beneficiary of our donation. She shows us her current facilities for drying her coffee beans, which are only large enough to allow her to dry a quarter of what she grows. Alba has taken to picking cherries and storing them in an impromptu and totally inadequate plastic covered area, but this is not the answer. Our donation here will provide a proper and extended drying area so she can maximise her returns and increase her revenue by selling her entire harvest. She is delighted with the news. As we leave I spot that she is storing coffee in her bedroom ready to take to the co-operative tomorrow.
As we break away from the road and head down a difficult track, it’s hard to imagine that we are heading towards the home of 60-year-old Berta Gomez, a lady who has lived and farmed here alone since her sons left to start their own farms. I can’t imagine how difficult her life must be, but Berta is so jolly and has no complaints. She explains that she had a chance of a much-needed new beneficiadero, but the opportunity was lost because she was ill and could not attend a meeting to discuss her requirements. But today all that changes, and she is obviously thrilled when she is told that she is to be looked after by our intervention.
Finally, it's on to the home of Rodrigo Cardona, a farmer who is helped by his wife and son but who appears to have been hard hit by the effects of climate change. Until recent times he dried his coffee beans on a paved area in front of his house, but as the dry seasons started becoming wetter, significant work has been created, as he has to keep bringing the beans in to avoid them being ruined. He desperately needs a covered drying area and is a very deserving nomination made by the Aguadas co-operative to become our fifth project.
Day five