The Pioneer of Organic Coffee - An Introduction to Peruvian Organic Coffee Cultivation_Where Are the Best Organic Coffee Beans From

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Peru: Geography and Coffee History

Peru is located in western South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between Chile and Ecuador. Peru's climate is extremely diverse, ranging from tropical in the east to dry deserts in the west, from temperate to the cold of the Andes Mountains. These different climates are closely linked to Peru's main geographical regions, including the western coastal plains, the central Andes Mountains, and the eastern lowland jungle of the Amazon Basin.

Although coffee arrived in Peru as early as the mid-1700s, it wasn't until the 20th century, with increased European demand and a significant decline in Indonesian coffee production, that Peruvian coffee began to be commercially exported. British presence and influence in the country were particularly helpful in increasing and promoting exports; in the early 20th century, the British government purchased approximately 2 million hectares of land from the Peruvian government as payment for defaulted loans, and most of this land became British-owned coffee plantations.

Today, Peru has over 110,000 coffee growers, and coffee exports account for 2% of the national economy and 2% of the global coffee supply. Peru is rapidly establishing a coffee industry chain with excellent cultivation techniques.

Peru's Coffee Exports

80% of Peru's coffee is exported through the Port of Callao, which handles 3/4 of the country's imports and 1/4 of exports. Another 20% of coffee is exported through Iquitos and Matarani.

Most of the coffee produced domestically in Peru is exported. In 2012, 264,343 tons of coffee were exported to countries including the United States, Germany, Belgium, Colombia, and Sweden, while domestic consumption was only about 10%. In 2014, coffee leaf rust (for specific information about leaf rust, see the El Salvador article) affected 130,000 hectares of land in the country's central highlands, leading to a 6% decline in 2013 production; compared to the highest production of 30,900 tons, this represents a 15% shortfall.

Peru's coffee industry is one of the country's most important agricultural sectors, accounting for 12% of all agricultural exports in 2004. Peru is also one of the world's largest coffee-producing countries, exporting over 216 million kilograms in 2006. Additionally, Peru is one of the world's major producers of organic and fair trade coffee beans. These exports make Peru the world's ninth-largest coffee producer but only the third-largest coffee exporter in South America.

Arabica coffee is grown on approximately 200,000 farms in Peru. These farms are mostly small, with an average area of less than 2 hectares. Most coffee is processed through cooperatives and then distributed through several intermediaries before being exported.

The Development of Peruvian Coffee

Like many Central and South American countries, throughout the 20th century, as large European-owned lands were sold or redistributed, farms became smaller and more scattered, providing farmers with opportunities for independence while also limiting their access to resources and larger commercial markets. However, there is a lack of organizations or infrastructure here to provide economic or technical support to farmers, which non-governmental organizations and certification agencies are trying to fill.

The country has a considerable number of organic coffee certifications, Fairtrade certifications, Rainforest Alliance certifications, and UTZ certifications (UTZ certification is also known as International Quality Certification). About 30% of small farmers are members of democratic cooperatives, which has increased the local visibility of coffee but has not brought people incredibly high-quality products.

Certification Organizations

• Rainforest Alliance
• Fairtrade Certification
• UTZ Certification

In the 2010s, Peru was one of the major producers of Arabica coffee, ranking fifth in world production and export of Arabica coffee. The remoteness of coffee farms and the incredibly small typical farm size have hindered the differentiation of many individual farms, which has allowed microbial development and marketing in other growing regions. The country's lush highlands and excellent heirloom varieties provide growers with potential to overcome limited infrastructure and market access barriers, and as production increases, we are more likely to see these types of advances.

Peruvian coffee farmers have small land areas, and the country's typical micro-wet-milling operations are even smaller. From May to September, farmers harvest ripe coffee cherries and transport them to manual pulpers and wooden fermentation tanks. (In Peru, coffee processing is mainly done by wet milling on the plantation land. During this process, the moisture content of coffee beans is reduced to about 20%, and then they are transported to drying facilities. However, this decentralized system is disadvantageous for coffee-growing areas in northern Peru because it leads to inconsistent quality and promotes rot and fungal growth.)

After processing the coffee, most farmers walk or ride mules to the nearest town to sell their coffee—a journey that can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 8 hours. On Saturdays, the nearest town square becomes a trading station for surrounding remote coffee growers. Farmers sell their coffee and purchase goods needed for their daily lives before returning to the mountains.

Unfortunately, something very unfortunate yet extremely common happens at these trading stations—sometimes only one buyer arrives. This greatly reduces the price paid to farmers for their coffee. Due to lack of personal warehouse space and only unreliable, expensive collective warehouses, farmers usually have no choice but to accept lower prices. The more remote the farm, the more the coffee is mixed and traded before reaching the coast. This disorganized trade system and isolation alienate farmers from the final beverage that comes from their farms. For years, growers have been focused on exchanging coffee with parchment for weight and dollars. This completely disconnects them from the idea of producing a beverage that can be enjoyed or abandoned based on its quality. Intermediate traders even add weight to each bag by sprinkling sand and water.

Coffee Cultivation in Peru

Peru's coffee fields are mainly distributed in the northern Cajamarca region, southern Cusco, and the Nopo area. Among these, 70% of coffee varieties are Typica, 20% are Caturra, and the rest are other varieties such as Catimor. About 75% of coffee-growing areas are located at elevations between 1,000-1,800 meters, while plants grown in shaded areas reach 2,000 plants per hectare. Agriculture is mainly carried out by small farmers, with organic coffee cultivation covering 90,000 hectares.

As the world's eighth-largest coffee-producing country, Peru has discovered in the past decade that organic coffee has huge business opportunities in Europe and America. The coffee fields in Peru's mountainous regions lack running water and electricity equipment, and poor indigenous farmers have been accustomed to organic cultivation since ancient times, still unable to purchase or use pesticides and fertilizers. The authorities have thus developed the organic coffee industry, with government guidance for certification, issuing organic certificates to eligible parties to facilitate exports.

Peru's organic coffee production costs are low, making it the world's largest and cheapest exporter of organic coffee. The other two major organic coffee-producing countries are Mexico and Ethiopia, but their prices are higher. The authorities intend to develop Peru into the world's leading organic coffee country, similar to how Vietnam is the world's largest Robusta-producing country, but this low-price strategy has caused dissatisfaction among many producing countries. Although Peru dumps organic coffee at low prices, this does not mean that specialty coffee has disappeared. At the 2010 SCAA "Coffee of the Year" cupping competition, Typica produced by Cecovasa from the small town of Tunkimayo in the Puno region of southeastern Peru scored 89.2 points, narrowly defeating the famous Panama Geisha from Hacienda La Esmeralda to win fifth place.

About CENFROCAFE

Established in 1999, CENFROCAFE is one of the largest and most organized cooperative organizations in Latin America, with a presence in most regions of Peru. Despite the overall lack of a cohesive national coffee association or non-governmental organization, CENFROCAFE has been able to support nearly 2,000 coffee growers by providing agricultural and financial resources while encouraging producers to learn about roasting and engage with specialty coffee.

Approximately 92% of coffee sold through CENFROCAFE is organic; 100% is certified as fair trade. This has led to improved product quality and demand for Peruvian coffee in international markets at competitive prices.

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