Coffee is the second most traded product in the world, right after oil. Women cultivating coffee represents 30 to 35% of the 25 million coffee producers across the world, representing 75% of the total world coffee production. Sex inequality, poverty and abuse are current in the coffee producing countries. Most of these women who are cultivating coffee have no rights, no income and most likely to be abandonned by their husband.With determination and desire of a better future, 464 women in Northern Peru joined their forces to aquire a better status and be recognized for their efforts. To get there, they have decided to cultivate, harvest and produce their own coffee, called Café Femenino.
Organic Products Trading Company (OPTCO) with the CECANOR cooperative, PROASSA, CICAP and Cordaid joined their forces to help these women in their efforts to reach their goals. Together, the project of Café Femenino started in 2004.
Today, the Café Femenino project is a social program for coffee producing women in the rural communities across the world; more than 1,500 women in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico and Peru are active in this project to gain autonomy, to build and support social networks et earn money through the production and sale of their own coffee Café Femenino.
The success of the project allowed the creation of the Café Femenino Foundation which finance social programs and projects especially chosen which will contribute to improve the lives of all these women and their family in the coffee producing communities, coninuously growing all around the globe.
Café Femenino coffee is strictly imported by OPTCO and is distributed to over 80 roasters. The roasters pay a premium back to Café Fémenino plus the Fair Trade price. Café Femenino is a high-quality organic coffee, sold only as a single origin coffee, to preserve the acidity, body, flavor and aroma which are unique to each Café Femenino origin.