UCA SAN JUAN, Nicaragua

UCA was founded in 1992 by members of 11 village co-operatives.

About UCA San Juan

UCA San Juan is a co-operative union with members spanning five communities in the districts of San Juan del Rio Coco and Telpaneca in the Madriz department of northwest Nicaragua. Known as UCA or UCA San Juan, its full name is Unión de Cooperativas Agropecuarias San Juan del Rio Coco.

Background & Structure

UCA was certified organic in 1993 and Fairtrade certified in 2004. Today it has a membership of eight co-operatives and 430 individual farmers of which a quarter (106) are women. It also employs 18 permanent field, processing and office staff.

Members grow high quality coffee – 75 per cent certified organic – on small farms of 5.6 hectares on average. UCA processes, markets and exports their coffee along with smaller amounts purchased from other local growers. In 2011/12 UCA produced and sold 35,200 quintals (1,620 tonnes) of coffee, of which 22.5 per cent was sold to Fairtrade buyers.

Many farmers have invested the premium in pulping machines, used for wet processing their coffee on the farm. Ripe red coffee cherries are soaked in water to soften the hard outer pulp which is then removed by electrically-powered pulping machines. The coffee beans are removed then collected by the co-op for drying, further processing, sorting and packing ready for export.

UCA previously contracted other companies to process and export its coffee but Fairtrade has enabled it to export directly. UCA has just constructed a drying mill, part-funded by the premium which is also being used to pay back the loan needed to build it. This has reduced the cost of processing by almost half and will generate additional income by contracting services to external clients. The mill also serves as collateral for the organisation to obtain finance.

Other premium projects

• Construction of a pre-school in a remote community where the local government school had insufficient classrooms; provision of school equipment and uniforms
• The school is also used two days a week to train young people in farming techniques and how to diversify into other agricultural crops and products
• New UCA office premises and small office for each co-operative, part-funded by premium
• 50% of the premium is used for cash payments for farmers who must submit an investment plan