At the Roots of Change

The challenge

In recent years roya, or coffee rust, has damaged coffee plants in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, causing massive damage to production. National production has reduced by 70% and the countries have been forced to import coffee to respond to local demand.

Objectives

Improve the living conditions of rural families in the most marginalized areas in the south of Haiti and in the Dominican Republic, increasing their income by at least 25% and strengthening the role of women.

Improve the productivity of coffee plantations by 35%.

Provide technical and financial support to cooperatives for proper management of purchasing and marketing in the Dominican Republic.

Encourage cooperation and exchange of knowledge between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, thereby reinforcing local policies for promoting the coffee sector and relations between the two countries.

The answer

The Lavazza Foundation, together with Oxfam, has launched a bi-national project to support small coffee producers in the Dominican Republic and Haiti through cooperatives, which involves 2,208 small producers in Haiti and 1,230 producers in the Dominican Republic.

The project allowed 8 million coffee plants to be replanted in the two countries over three years.
Organized activities focused on technical assistance and training for local producers.
It was also given support for the creation of a small local roasting facility in the Dominican Republic, training young producers on the techniques of roasting and marketing the product.

Today the project is entering its second phase, which will see an expansion of operations in Cuba and a direct participation of Lavazza experts in training producers on the subject of quality.