Mut Vitz - Chiapas Mexico

Info on other Mexican cooperatives

  Fast Facts on Mut Vitz

600 Members in 26 municipalities
Annual Production - Approximately 600,000 pounds
Founded in 1997, Joined FLO register in 1999
Organic Certified in 2000
Altitude of plots between 900 and 1,400 ft
Coffee species Arabica coffees,  Typica, Caturra,  Bourbon
Characteristics: A full-bodied coffee with a hint of nut and chocolate in the cup, good acidity and excellent aroma

The cooperative is composed of some 600 families from 26 communities in the self-proclaimed autonomous region of San Juan de La Libertad, located in the Highlands of Chiapas. Mut Vitz coordinates a network of 48 community promoters working to consolidate their own participative process for the transfer of technology and practical know-how for organic production. These promoters have already led the cooperative through the organic certification process and are constantly improving internal mechanisms for quality control. Because of the lack of government support for indigenous people in this region, Mut Vitz producers seek autonomous economic and social alternatives to support development in their communities – critical to that is the sale of their coffee to the fair trade market.

Mut Vitz is a positive example of a local initiative working for true respect for Indigenous rights and human dignity in Chiapas.

Principal objectives include:
• Increasing the local knowledge of appropriate technology for the organic production of their coffee
• Improving the potential of the cooperative members to sell their coffee at "fair prices" both nationally and internationally
• Improving the basic infrastructure for each of the cooperative members and improving the collective infrastructure for the dry processing and transportation of their coffee .

 And ultimately, improving the overall economic and social well being of its members. As our first partner cooperative, we have spent many hours together discussing plans and proposals as we developed our businesses together. We have witnessed the care that Mut Vitz takes to control quality and its own internal processes and understand how they have come to grow so quickly over the past four years.

Check out more photos of our producer partner, Mut Vitz.

Unfortunately, in 2007, we had to cancel our contracts with this long term partner due to an important financial crisis they are going through. Here is a brief summary of what happened.

Certifications:
Mut Vitz IMO Organic Certificate 2005-2006