Supporting the Competitiveness of Central American Coffee
The project provided technical assistance and helped establish market linkages for experienced small coffee producers in five Central American countries. This enabled their entry into a higher value specialty coffee value chain, and potentially prevented exclusion from the market following the coffee crisis at the turn of the century. This case study assesses the project “Supporting the Competitiveness of Central American Coffee”, one of more than 40 projects implemented in the Latin American and Caribbean Region, within MIF’s “Linking Small Producers to High Value Agriculture Markets” thematic work area. These projects provide technical assistance, technological solutions, and access to finance to organized farmer groups (cooperatives, social enterprises and others) whose products have proven market demand in a variety of sectors and industries such as fisheries, horticulture, dairy, coffee, cocoa, and stevia, to name a few. The CGGC – Duke University researchers assessed five of these projects using a four-pillar framework designed to identify key areas that improve sustainable inclusion to value chains. Each case study in the series synthesizes common challenges and best practices implemented by MIF’s partner agencies, while providing valuable insights for ensuring successful outcomes and longterm impacts in inclusive value chain projects.
