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La Hermandad is a family collective that produces fair trade, ecologically-minded coffee in the high mountains of the northern Matagalpa region of Nicaragua. They purchased a few badly-cared for hectares in 1992, and since then, have steadily expanded and recuperated the farm and its lands, diversifying the coffee fields with shade-providing trees, and limiting their growth to just half of the farm to preserve the other half as a wildlife jungle reserve.
For years the cooperative has received and enchanted visitors with its history of revolution, education in the coffee production chain, spectacular mountain views, and breath-taking wildlife. They enjoy a healthy relationship with a local hotel that brings them day visitors, many of whom have wanted to spend the night, but the coop has never been able to offer them the facilities before. However | now thanks to an initiative called Fairtrade 2.0 launched by a group of students from West Virginia University under the direction of professor Bradley Wilson, in which proceeds from coffee sales return to be directly re-invested in the cooperative through The Working World, the coop is building a brand new eco-guest house. The guest house will help the coop diversify their farm income to not be exclusively dependent on coffee, and share their story build their relationships with visitors from around the world.
We project that the coop will be able to earn enough profits to pay off the initial investment to finish the construction, install a septic system and equip the house within 18 months, after which we look forward to continuing to finance the expansion of the tourism facility with solar panels, and the construction of a small observatory. |
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