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    Equipo monKaaba

    Although San Agustín is one of the oldest and most valuable coffee growing regions in Colombia, generational smallholder farmers still do not have access to markets that would offer them a sustainable price. monKaaba seeks to change this.

    The six smallholder families who founded the project were driven by a shared vision of a different system in which coffee farmers are treated with respect and dignity. Esnaider Ortega Gomez and Didier Ortega run the day-to-day operations of monKaaba. The central hub is a quality assurance laboratory, where any producer can drop by to taste their own coffee and receive immediate feedback on what can be improved. Producers can then decide to join the monKaaba, receive guidance from more experienced producers, and distribute their coffee through the collective.

    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.

    monKaaba works together with Semilla Coffee, an importer based in Canada. The two projects grew out of many conversations and a deep friendship between Esnaider Ortega Gomez and Brendan Adams of Semilla. Esnaider spent 10 years working for an exporter and was troubled by the many times he saw a grower’s coffee rejected without any explanation as to why. monKaaba’s aim is to break down barriers of access and knowledge, so that smallholders can understand the quality of their coffee, learn about the intricacies of the supply chain, and gain more control and autonomy over their own coffee production. While monKaaba develops pedagogical support and prepares producers’ coffee for export, Semilla serves as a buyer and importer. Semilla further assists monKaaba by covering the costs of running an open access cupping laboratory, as well as paying salaries to the smallholders who work as roasters, accountants, and warehouse managers in the small bodega in San Agustin.