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    Diever Galindez

    Diever Galindez and his wife Estela Guzman run Finca Las Juntas, located at an average of 1,800 masl in the gorgeous mountains of San Agustín, Huila, Colombia. They grow exceptional Pink Bourbon coffee and other varieties on 3 hectares of land.

    Like many smallholder producers in Colombia, Don Diever sold his coffee for many years on the conventional market, where prices are low, traceability is minimal, and feedback on quality is null. Joining Monkaaba gave Diever the knowledge and market access he needed to be able to sell his first microlots under his own name on the specialty market.

    The Monkaaba group of coffee producers in San Agustín,Huila
    About
    monKaaba

    From an initial group of six founding families, monKaaba now includes more than 60 families and is beginning to extend its support to smallholder farmers in neighboring regions who have limited or no access to specialty coffee market prices. The impact of monKaaba's approach is already visible. Esnaider has noticed that the quality of production has increased among all producers involved in monKaaba and is now of a more consistent quality. In addition, many of the young growers who started by contributing to collective blends, such as La Colmena, have now started selling microlots under their own name for solid prices. This creates sustainable wealth for smallholder families and keeps younger generations interested in growing coffee.

    Diever and his wife Estela Guzman, like many smallholder producers in Colombia, were used to selling their coffee in the local market at very low prices. In 2010, they joined a small group of established growers through which they were able to get access to slightly higher prices. However, the coffee still went into blends and the lack of traceability left Diever feeling unsatisfied. Around this time, the farm’s Caturra trees began suffering from coffee leaf rust. And so Diever and Estela purchased 700 Pink Bourbon trees. These first plants propagated new seedlings that are now planted throughout the farm alongside smaller plots of Castillo, Cogollo Rojo, and Gesha. Diever joined Monkaaba in its second year and has become one of the project’s most dedicated members.