Cooperativa Café Local Maubisse is official!

14 farmers are behind the cooperative CCALMA. Eka, who heads Konfiansa in East Timor, sits in a blue jacket on the lower right.

At Easter, the cooperative CCALMA – Cooperativa Café Local Maubisse – was finally established, and already in the summer will produce coffee that is sent directly to Norway! The cooperative initially consists of 14 farmers and a local administrator.

Through the network in East Timor, we have come into contact with a group of farmers in the area around Maubisse in the Ainaru region who would very much like to collaborate with Konfiansa. For the past five years, they have sold 'ordinary' coffee to conventional players, but the potential for good coffee in the area is high.

Maubisse lies at around 1,500 meters above sea level, and is located on the east side of East Timor's highest mountain, Ramelau (3,006 m).

The farmers in the area mainly produce arabica (hybrido de timor), and it is this variety that the cooperative will work with. The coffee from this cooperative will arrive in Norway in the winter of 2025!

Eka during an early meeting with the cooperative

Why has Konfiansa established this cooperative and why exactly these farmers in Maubisse?

Firstly so it was important for us to collaborate with farmers who were not already part of a value chain where they had access to a lot of help, resources and an offer of better payment for good quality. In this way, we give farmers an offer they would not otherwise have. In other parts of East Timor (and in other coffee-producing countries) there is great competition for farmers who produce good coffee. For us, however, the most important thing is to help those who need help the most.

Secondly then it was important to work with farmers who want to develop and improve their own coffee production. An important principle we try to strive for is that production should take place on the farmer's terms. It is then very important that the development is initiated and managed by the farmers themselves.

Thirdly then we believe that cooperatives are a good way of organizing production. In this way, each farmer has one vote in decision-making processes, and the cooperative can support farmers who are struggling with crops etc. Cooperatives are also a way of democratizing local power structures, which in many places in East Timor are very elite-oriented and where intermediaries absconding with large sums of money.

Pictures are from one of several workshops on how to run a cooperative

Konfiansa and CCALMA

The cooperation with the cooperative takes place along several levels. We buy the coffee farmers at a very good price: In the first year, we plan to buy coffee where the farmer gets 4.3$/KG of green beans (of which approx. 60 cents goes to the cooperative). That's about twice as good as they would otherwise have gotten. At the same time, this requires a bit more effort in production, but hopefully not to the extent that it affects other activities.

In addition, all the profit Konfiansa has from the coffee produced here will go back to the local community. Since this is not relevant until 2025, the system is not completely nailed down, but it is very likely that the cooperative will receive a significant share of this profit. Another part of the profit will probably also go towards enabling Kria dalan to work on a social project in the local area.

The Konfiansa model is the starting point for how we connect Norwegian consumers and Timorese coffee farmers in an efficient, direct and solidary way. Through such a model, we believe that together we can contribute to poor farmers and their families getting on better.