MONSOON. Gerson Rangel Santana from the town center of Maravilla is a student of the basic Barista workshop implemented by Alianza Café, a USAID Peru initiative implemented by TechnoServe and with the support of partners such as Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) and Peet’s Coffee.
This public-private alliance aims to strengthen the productive development and articulation to the market of coffee producers from San Martín, Huánuco and Ucayali, contributing to the increase in their income.
The Coffee Alliance, in coordination with the provincial or district municipalities, has been developing the Coffee School, where workshops on barista and cupping are held, aimed at local coffee growers.
So far this year, the alliance has held the following workshops in Monzón: Basic Barista, which had 20 participants; basic tasting, 24 participants; Intermediate tasting, 15 participants; and in Hermilio Valdizán, the basic tasting workshop, aimed at 17 participants.
These workshops seek to strengthen the coffee value chain and diversify the income of agricultural households, they will be available throughout the year.
This is the case of Gerson, the son of farmers who own a farm. “We come with our own coffee, we know where we bring it from (…) my goal is to get to work in a coffee shop and then open my own coffee shop,” he says.
Estrellita Villavicencio, is another student who seeks to learn more, motivate herself, to work in the cafeteria that her relative will soon be opening.
“I want to dedicate myself to this, I thank the municipality of Monzón for the workshop, so that young people can enroll and get ahead,” Villavicencio said.
The alliance works to give young people the opportunity to continue growing in the coffee business, since they also represent the change towards sustainable development in the Monzón Valley.
Alianza CAFÉ works in coordination with local governments and public entities such as Devida. In this sense, the executive president of this entity, Carlos Figueroa Henostroza, recently ratified Devida’s commitment to promote sustainability and development in the intervention areas. “We have to have a comprehensive look to be able to separate vulnerable families from drug trafficking,” he added.
