Colombia - Fondo Paez & Tayrona Indigenous Federation
Fondo Paez – Café Naftewesh
Fast Facts on the Association Fondo Paez
•Members – 550 producers (of which 285 are certified Organic)
•Crop diversification includes sisal, beans, tropical fruits
•FLO Certified since 2005
•Exported 6 container of organic coffee in 2007 and 3 transitional
•Expect to export 7 containers of organic and 4 transitional in 2008
•General Assembly are in March and October
The Paez (who also call themselves Nasa, or “the people”) is the largest indigenous group in Colombia. Their land is in the Cordillera Central – centered around the mountains of the Cauca departamento (state). Fondo Paez was founded in 1992, with the primary goal of recuperating traditional agricultural knowledge and indigenous culture which had been buried by centuries of conflict and oppression. Paez community leaders teamed up with Fundacion Colombia Nuestra, a Colombian-based non-profit, to start the “Recovering Agricultural Knowledge” program. The main cash crop of this region is still coffee, and, to ensure a stable income for their members, Fondo Paez organized community based coffee cooperatives. They became more organized, and, by 2000, they were selling coffee through the Coffee Federation’s Specialty Coffee program. In 2003, they produced seven containers of coffee, both conventional and organic certified.
They currently process, market, and export their coffee through the Federation, but are completely independent in their internal decision-making process. They are governed democratically and are extraordinarily well organized. They have been recently incorporated as an association in Colombia with its own legal identity.
Surprisingly, Fair Trade is still not widespread in Colombia. And even though Fondo Paez had been operating with Fair Trade practices, they did not receive their official FLO certification until 2005. Cooperative Coffees was instrumental in demonstrating to FLO (Fair Trade certifier in Europe) that a Fair Trade market existed in the U.S. for Fondo Paez coffee.
The organization provides technical assistance for quality control and organic production to its cooperative members. Fondo Paez then works with these primary cooperatives to collect coffee and transport it to a nearby beneficio (coffee mill) to be processed. The cooperative retains ownership of the coffee until it reaches the port. The coffee farmers are equal owners in the organization and receive not only the social benefits provided by Fondo Paez, but also retain a much higher percentage of coffee profits.
Fondo Paez is completely committed to the self-sufficiency of their people and have a holistic approach to farming. This is most evident on their farms. Coffee is only one of many crops that are incorporated into a diverse agro-forestry system. Food crops for their own consumption, feed crops for the farm animals, and nitrogen fixing plants for the soil are given equal importance to their cash crops: coffee, sisal, beans, and different tropical fruits.
The members of Fondo Paez have created a sustainable vision for their indigenous communities. This vision is remarkable in and of itself, but the work and successes of this organization are truly extraordinary when viewed within the context of Colombian politics and globalization. From Spanish conquest centuries ago to the armed conflict raging in their territory for the past 40 years, the Paez people have struggled for their lives, their land, and their right to self-determination.
Their board of director is now constituted of :Floresmiro Taochez, President; Angela Mestizo, Secretary; and Losa Niquinas, treasorer. For 2008, the priorities of Fondo Paez are to consolidate de 24 group present the organisation and promote the 9 new groups; to increase the yield of their coffee production; and to provide some training in administration to the staff of the organization.
Tayrona Indigenous Federation
Fast Facts on Tayrona
24,000 Members from the Arhuaco Indigenous Community
Located in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
Coffee grown in high altitude
Confederation founded in 1978
CONFEDERACIÓN INDÍGENA TAYRONA (TAYRONA INDIGENOUS FEDERATION)
General Context of the Arhuacos Indigenous Culture
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an independent mountain group from the Andean mountain system. This Sierra rises from the sea up to 5.775 meters high and represents a unique ecosystem in the world. Sierra Nevada is presently inhabited by the indigenous communities of Arhuacos, Kogis, Arzarios and Kankuamos. Except for the Kankuamos, each community has its own language, that in turn belongs to the Chibcha linguistic family with autonomous territory1.
The Arhuaco indigenous community is located in the Resguardo Iku (a political indigenous division), with an approximate population of 24.000 natives distributed in 35 sub-communities, south of the Cesar and Magdalena departments, between 1.000 and 2.500 metres above the sea level2. Arhuacos firmly belief in the respect for the land, its surroundings and environment, rivers sacred lagoons of the Sierra Nevada, and specially for human life. Their productive and economic system is based in agriculture, as a basic means of survival, for their own sustainability as a community. Few products are destined for sales, such as coffee that produces, each season an amount of cash money that contributes to domestic economy of the Arhuaco community.
For more than one hundred (100) years, coffee has made part of sustainability of the indigenous Arhuaco families of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. It has been produced with organic methods and presently it is certified by “Ecocert” (Organic Products French certification entity).
Community Project: Confederación Indígena Tayrona (CIT)
Bogotá OfficeConfederación Indígena Tayrona (CIT) is the political and administrative organization of the Arhuaco indigenous community and it is made up of 24.000 members approximately. It was created by General Assembly dated 1978, representing all the interests of the Arhuaco people, grouping all the authorities and representatives. This confederation has a division located in the city of Valledupar, created with the purpose of facilitating up relations in general with private and public entities.
Legal developments in terms of constitutional, domestic and international law have recognized political rights to indigenous peoples. This includes “CIT” which, due to its special character, is regulated under the lines of the Assembly of the Arhuaco group of natives. CIT is registered under NIT: 824002015/9 in the taxation register of the DIAN (National Taxes and Customs Departament). Due to its special character, CIT does not have to file tax returns nor to register in the Chamber of Commerce.
In the year 2001, Confederación Indígena Tayrona created a committee for sales. This committee would be held responsible for management, logistics and contacts with national and international entities for coffee sales. Confederación Indígena Tayrona holds a General Assembly once a year, to which an average of nine hundred (900) natives are present and among which you can find the indigenous authorities and those interested in proposing or defending their rights. In this General Assembly the most important decisions for the Arhuaco Indigenous Community and their productive projects are made. The General Assembly is lead by the Board of Directors of CIT, composed by the Cabildo Governor, Secretary General, Treasurer and Controller.
Objectives of Confederación Indígena Tayrona
1. Give to the Confederación Indígena Tayrona, as legitimate representative of the insterests of the Arhuaco people, the economic capacity to commercialize their own coffee.
2. To strengthen indigenous institutionality of the Arhuaco natives, represented by the Confederación Indígena Tayrona.
3. To strengthen economic self/sustainability in the Arhuaco community as a strategy to prevent deplacement of the indigenous population of the zone.
4. To control the entering to the zone of external agents to the community that produce internal disarticulation.
5. To assure that the coffee producing Arhuaco community members receive the benefits to which an organic producer has right.
6. To refrain from cultural dissolution or crackeling of the community.
7. To create the mechanisms that permit the Arhuaco community to have better sales processes in their agricultural products.
8. To acquire knowledge based on experience of commercialization of agricultural products.
