International Womens Day (8th March). You... yes you... enjoying a social cup of Fairtrade Hamodava empowers women every day.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations states that globally women make up 43% of the agricultural labour force. Yet, they face significant discrimination regarding land ownership, equal pay, participation in decision-making entities and access to credit and financial services.

Our primary supplier of green coffee beans, PRODECOOP in Nicaragua, is lead by General Manager Merling Preza. Merling also sits on Fairtrade International’s General Assembly and Board and is the Vice President of the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers and Workers.

When discussing how partnering with fairtrade empowers women, Merling says “We work on the issue of the Land Fund - a fund that uses the Fairtrade Premium - with the aim that women can have greater access to land. That is one of the challenges we face; even though we have 854 women, the majority of these women have less than two hectares. Women have the smallest area of production in general. We have extended the Land Fund programme also for the renovation of coffee plantations and for economic ventures for women to diversify their income.” 

“Women are trained directly in both the value chain of coffee and also on issues in leadership, finance, management of credit, the whole issue of legalisation of land, access to resources etc., also with the aim that by developing their skills they can access leadership roles.” Alongside gender and generational equality, PRODECOOP’s core values are climate change adaptation, food security and a democratic leadership structure. Their vision; ‘work based in the family and for the family.’