Chajulense

Info on other Guatemala cooperatives

Fast Facts on Chajul
1 668 coffee farmers in 56 communities, all organic
Annual production: around 50-60 containers
Diversification projects: cardamon, honey, The Posada lodge, garment-making
Founded in 1988, FLO registered
Their Annual Assembly is in October
Their anniversary is in January
Future-- improve dry mill

The Asociación Chajulense Va’l Vaq Qujol was founded in 1988 by some 40 coffee farmers of the Chajul area Triángulo Ixil, Quiché. The organization  obtained its legal status in 1990. At present, the organization has 1,662 active members, most of whom are coffee farmers. Its main goal is to “promote a sustainable development model that is environmentally sound, economically feasible, fair from a social point of view and appropriate from a cultural standpoint”. The organization is working in 56 communities of the Chajul, Nebaj, Cotzal and Chiantla areas.

Coffee is their main export market and the first exports began at the end of the 80’s and the beginning of the 90’s, expanding the fair trade opportunities through the FLO registration, as well as organic certification. 90% of the members produce certificed organic coffee and the remaining 10% are internally certificed as producing transitional organic coffee.  The organization is not actively looking for new members, but accepts new ones if they are organic or if they have new, young plantations that have been run organically for at least one or two years. Their organic production now have an average yield of 22 quintals per hectares

In 2006, Cooperative Coffees purchased one of the first containers of fair trade, organic coffee shipped to the US market from Chajul.  The organization had attempted to diversify with other products such as cardamom, cheese, honey, and handicrafts but found that some projects were not be sustainable and cost the organization too much time and effort to be profitable. At present, the organization is further developing and working with four projects: coffee, cardamom, bee honey and The Posada, which is a lodge for tourists and visitors. The breakfast shown is a delicious part of the service at the Posada.

Check out more photos of our farmer partner, Chajul.
Chajul's brochure is available as a PDF file in Spanish.

You can also check their internet site http://asociacionchajulense.org

Learn about their women's artisan group (and check out what they're making!)

Trace this coffee's documents at FairTradeProof.org