our work
mission:
AGPC's mission is to improve the quality of life of coffee smallholders families of the Bolaven Plateau and fight against poverty in the area.
objectives:
- 1. To represent coffee producers of the Bolaven Plateau at the government level, within the coordination bodies of the Lao coffee supply chain at domestic and international levels, and for all activities related to coffee.
- 2. To provide its members with technical assistance in all aspects of coffee production.
- 3. To support its members in all aspects of coffee marketing and promotion.
our business:
1. A technical and organizational support
The team of skilled technicians supports CPC members in all aspects of coffee production, especially on issues related to the management of plantations (fertility, pest management, maintenance, etc.) and transformation in the collective wet processing centers (quality control, pulping, washing, drying, etc.). Technicians also support the cooperative members with management, in particular, ongoing support in accounting and management of the Fairtrade Premium.
2. Financial support:
To overcome the daily difficulties during the pre-harvest period, a large part of the Bolaven Plateau producers, especially the poorest, are used to sell their coffee to local intermediaries in the form of loan sharking, with high interest rates and prices set well below market prices. This is to avoid this exploitation system that the CPC contract loans from international financial institutions such Alterfin or Rabobank Rural Found. The CPC then provides its members with advances based on production forecasts of each collective wet processing centers and at the same level as local market prices. Loans at 0% interest rates are also granted to members in the form of inputs (organic certified compost). Members can also apply for loans to improve their facilities through a specific fund created thanks to the Fairtrade Premium.
3. A support for the promotion and marketing :
To enable its members to sell their coffee with a better value-added, CPC promotes Lao high quality coffee with the objective of establishing trustful relationships with roasters and international traders.
Can be regarded as the "voice of coffee smallholders of the Bolaven Plateau", the CPC is also mandated to represent its members at the government level, within the coordination bodies of the Lao coffee supply chain at domestic and international levels, and for all activities related to coffee.
The cooperative is thus involved in several projects to strengthen the entire Lao coffee supply chain, for example by participating in the establishment of a Geographical Indication (GI) for Bolaven coffees.
Willing to share its experience with other producers' organizations, the CPC is also actively involved in several networks such as Fair Trade Laos, Lao NPA or NAPP which gathers Fairtrade-FLO certified organizations of Asia and the Pacific.
4. Infrastructures serving the collective :
To help produce and market the "gourmet coffee" and distribute the gains obtained to its members, the Coffee Producers Cooperative initially worked on the management of coffee quality with the creation of appropriate production tools: 40 collective wet processing centers have been established on the Bolaven Plateau between 2007 and 2008. A factory to prepare export batches then emerged in 2009 followed the next year by a sensorial laboratory and a roasting unit. This set of technical tools now allows members of the CPC to control the entire production chain and thus make the most of the benefits of their work.
