Cooxupé producers receive bonuses in the Donas do Café program

The Donas do Café program held its first in-person meeting. During the event, which included lectures and the delivery of certificates, the 50 cooperative members who produced specialty coffees and sold them with SMC Specialty Coffees - which is controlled by Cooxupé and operates in the specialty coffee market - received, for the first time , and because they are part of the blends negotiated with the company's customers, a bonus for the value added to their product. In total, R＄ 108,8 thousand was distributed among them.

In 2020, the Donas do Café program was born with the purpose of promoting special coffees from women producers, Cooxupé cooperative members. Maria Dirceia Mendes, commercial and administrative manager at SMC, states that there are currently more women performing important roles in the coffee chain.

“We found female action from the countryside, through exports to consumption. And we noticed that they want to be closer and support each other”, she says. “It was this movement that inspired us to create the Donas do Café project and bring more visibility to the work of women in coffee farming, especially in this market”, she reinforces.

Reunion

During the pandemic period, the project remained virtual, with meetings through live streams and transmission of knowledge about the specialty coffee niche. Now, with the general improvement in Brazil, it was possible to hold the first in-person meeting of Donas do Café.

At the event, cooperative members attended lectures on the production, market and consumption experiences of specialty coffees, in addition to receiving bonuses.

“SMC’s customers have been interested and supported the project. The increase that they insisted on paying for the Donas do Café blends was distributed among the participants of the 2021 harvest. We hope that this movement will expand and that we can encourage more and more cooperative members to dedicate themselves to the production of specialty coffees”, reinforces Maria Dirceia.

For the president of Cooxupé, Carlos Augusto Rodrigues de Melo, the Donas do Café program is the representation of what women do on a daily basis. “They make a difference in our cooperative and in coffee it would be no different”, he guarantees. “They bring security to business and produce coffee that serves our customers in the domestic and foreign markets. Cooxupé is proud to have them at this important event and to have this female representation on our membership”, he added.

The vice-president of the cooperative, Osvaldo Bachião Filho, emphasizes the conviction that women are the foundations of families. “Regardless of size, there is a great deal of family involvement in coffee production. And we always have room to improve our productivity and profitability. Therefore, we must see Cooxupé as an extension of our properties, our support. We want to produce more and better. And that’s what we hope to do”, he concludes.