The history
In 2012, at the end of a decade of property defence lawsuits, thirty four indigenous women decided to create a collective. Each woman works her own land, bring the harvest into the coöperative and together they process the coffee into the brand: D'Yasica, a high quality brand of organically produced coffee.
Together they own an agroforestry of 120,000 seedlings for the establishment of 34 manzanas (around 30 ha). Their organisation, legally constituted as ‘Cooperative Agropecuaria de Servicios Tonanzintlalli R.L.’, functions as the economic, political and socio-cultural coffee business of the indigenous women of Matagalpa.
For more than hundred years, the community has experience with producing coffee in harmony with nature.
The goal
The goal is not only to produce quality coffee, but create a mechanism of protection so that these women and their families avoid being victims of unscrupulous people and companies that take advantage of their economic needs by pre-buying their harvest at auctions.
The positive outcome
The cooperative generates resources that contribute to the economic, political and cultural empowerment of the Matagalpa indigenous women and consequently help to improve the quality of life of the women and their families. So that indigenous children not only have the privilege of living and growing in harmony with the forest and its biodiversity, but also in a home where all their basic needs are insured, where their mothers are not forced to emigrate and bear sexist violence because of their economic dependency.
What will be gained
After three years of working on the new land, the cooperative can use the plantation for their own coffee. This creates the opportunity for the cooperative to work autonomous.
The first three years the coffee shall be sold to other parties, because it will still contain chemicals.
Quote of Maritza
Maritza: “We managed and executed the project with great success due to our experience in the business. Through the process, we have learnt to recognize our capacities and strengths. We are operating with the spirit of loving and supporting each other while continuing the work in an organized manner.”
The coffee brand: D'Yasica
The cooperative is an example of indigenous women standing up for their rights and taking matters into their own hands to become independent.
