Market Readiness Initiative
Equipping smallholder women coffee farmers with opportunities to establish direct trade relationships with specialty coffee buyers, earn higher farm-gate revenue and build thriving businesses.
program components
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A six week training on post-harvest practices and quality improvement.
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we gather and ship samples from women-powered coffees to independent roasters around the world.
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we export coffee to roasters globally.
Meet Elena
a smallholder woman coffee farmer from Fortin, Veracruz, Mexico. In 2022, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she was grappling with the challenges of food insecurity and struggling to provide for her family. It was during this trying time that Elena enrolled in Bean Voyage's Market Readiness.
With determination and support from Bean Voyage, Elena applied lessons on quality improvement in post-harvest practices. She started processing her coffee at home, and, within a year, transformed it into export-ready coffee, to be sold to buyers internally.
But her journey didn't stop there. Elena’s entrepreneurial spirit led her to grow her production, allowing her to process more coffee, and sell to international buyers in the U.S and South Korea. In just the first year of operation, her brand has generated over $4500 in additional income for her family.
Elena’s story is a testament to the impact of Bean Voyage’s Care Trade program, demonstrating how with the right support and resources, smallholder women coffee farmers cannot only overcome adversity but also build resilient and thriving businesses for themselves and their families.
mri at a glance
Bean Voyage has been running the Market Readiness Initiative since 2019. The initiative has resulted in the following impact:
Exported a total of 64 tonnes of women-powered coffee globally.
Assisted over 263 smallholder women coffee farmers in being market-ready and selling their coffee to buyers globally.
Generated over $603,000 in farmgate income.
Ensured a 212% increase in prices compared to the commodity markets.
Expanded program from Costa Rica to Mexico.
