A sip of coffee from the canal basin to toast for its expansion

They put the land, the coffee, and the desire to improve themselves; the Authority of the Panama Canal (ACP, for its acronym in Spanish) supported them; CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, in alliance with the Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources (Natura), contributed the economic resources, technical support, and training; and today they all toast with a sip of coffee for the expansion and their own success; they have increased their incomes by more than 30 percent. 

Ninety families cultivate lowland coffee, but not just anywhere. It is coffee from the hydrographic basin of the Panama Canal, making the commercial route greener, more aromatic, and at the service of the human development of the people that surround it. A project that also includes the legal formalization of the Asociación de Caficultores de la Cuenca del Canal de Panamá (ACACPA) (Association of Coffee Producers of the Panama Canal Basin), a cooperative in charge of marketing the production of its associates, attentive to market variations and committed volumes. 

Enrique Garcia, CAF's Executive President, explained, "through this project, we have given the first steps for the transformation of a purely informal activity. As a result of the training received, farmers now have technical and cognitive resources to achieve considerable returns on investments and increases both in profits and productive capacity, thus improving the quality of life of farming families that can allocate part of their surplus to the education of their children and improve their homes".  

There are additional benefits for the inter-oceanic highway regarding the environment, that are also a result of this initiative. The coffee growing developed by farmers that live in the district of Capira, at the river banks of the Ciri Grande and Trinidad rivers, which are part of the hydrographic basin of the Panama Canal, provide a protective barrier for the conservation of forests and water resources, reducing soil erosion, generating oxygen, and becoming water and greenhouse gas captators. 

Currently, the farmers of the ACACPA are in the process of capturing markets and marketing coffee, which is being harvested, processed, and drunk. In addition, the operation will strengthen the members of the Association to put their Business Plan in place. The coffee growing project in the basin of the Panama Canal is an example of how investments in development initiatives must be accompanied by interventions focused on training human skills and productive capacities (skills, productive activities in the field, entrepreneurships, etc) to promote more sips of progress and sustainability.  

Learn more details about this initiative in the blog Visiones:  Panamá: de pequeños caficultores a exitosos empresarios