UCA SOPPEXCCA

SOPPEXCCA (Sociedad de Pequeños Productores y Exportadores de Café)   is a Union of Agricultural Cooperatives and Services with a total of 537 members. These members form part of 17 first level cooperatives located in the departments of Jinotega and Matagalpa in the north of Nicaragua. As an organization, UCA SOPPEXCCA works from a focus of active integration of all members, ensuring visibility in terms of gender equality at the level of the member cooperatives, the community and the organization as a whole.

 

UCA SOPPEXCCA provides financing, technical assistance, training, wet coffee processing, dry processing and certification processes in Good Agricultural Practices, Fair Trade, Organic Production, and Small Producer (SPP). It has developed specific programs for women and youth in cooperatives and communities, programmes which aim to improve living conditions and access to education and income generation processes. In sustainability terms UCA SOPPEXCCA recognises that in order to ensure that young people stay on the land, agriculture has to be an attractive, viable option and strives to afford the opportunity for these young people to achieve and maintain a dignified and prosperous existence.  

 

History

 

The Union of Agricultural Cooperatives UCA SOPPEXCCA RL emerged from the collapse of a former coop in the late 90s, following years of low prices in the international coffee marketplace and continuing administrative malpractice.  The organization owed over a million dollars in unfulfilled contracts to coffee buyers. 68 members of the former coop set up the current SOPPEXCCA and took on the debts of its predecessor, promising to pay them back over 20 years. They achieved this goal in less than ten years.

 

In 2002 SOPPEXCCA made the transition to a Union of Agricultural Cooperatives and Services a structure that better reflects the values of the organization, simultaneously providing for the stability, transparency and sustainability of the organization.

 

UCA SOPPEXCCA R.L currently consists of 17 cooperatives based in the municipalities of Jinotega, El Cuá and San José de Bocay. It has 537 producers of which 156 are women (30%) and 381 men (70%)

 

Mission

 

UCA SOPPEXCCA, through the knowledge, skills and technical capacity of its producer members and employees is dedicated to the production and marketing of quality, environmentally responsibly cultivated and processed coffee and cocoa. Where possible, value is added to products in Nicaragua as the organization continually aspires to a model of cooperative integration founded on intergenerational succession planning and promoting technological innovation.

 

Vision

To be a model of cooperative development, under a social economy approach, with a higher level of self-sustainability, to improve the quality of life of families.

 

 

 

Products:

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1. Coffee

 

The producers of UCA SOPPEXCCA have an area of ​​1,700 hectares of coffee, of which, 591. Hectares are managed under organic technology and 1,109 Hectares under conventional technology. In the case of conventional cultivation techniques and processes of sustainable production are applied in line with the best environmental management practices, incorporating restrictions in the use of agrochemicals and encouraging practices to conserve soil, water sources, shade diversification, among others.

 

The productive units are located in 15 communities of the municipalities of Jinotega and El Cuá, at an average height of 800 up to 1,200 m.s. The farmer members deliver coffee  in parchment form to UCA SOPPEXCCA. The cooperative then proceeds to implement dry mill processing, quality control and product classification for marketing, based on a high-quality production strategy.

 

The main varieties that farmer members use are: Caturra, Catuaí, Pacas, Caturra star and Bourbon.Main certifications for the coffee produced and exported are: Fair Trade, Organic, and Small Producer (SPP). UCA SOPPEXCCA has been certified Fairtrade since 1997, having to date 21 years of working hand in hand with this certification that has contributed to improve the living conditions of the producing families as part of the process of implementation of sustainable environmental, social and economic practices

 

The cuppers/tasters in UCA SOPPEXCCA are certified as Q Grader by the Quality Institute (CQI). All the coffee collected from the members is done so under a traceability and safety system, complying with standards and criteria for coffee collection, processing and export

 

UCA SOPPEXCCA R.L has a marketing policy that indicates the payment terms to the associates, as well as several institutional policies, internal control system, national and international regulations.

 

2. Cocoa

 

UCA SOPPEXCCA, as part of its diversification strategy, currently has an established area of 200 hectares of cocoa, under Agroforestry Systems. The cocoa production zones are located in the municipalities of Jinotega, El Cuá and San José de Bocay at an average height of 650-900 msnm.

 

There is a technical support unit for technical assistance processes, training, productivity advice, quality production, diversification, organizational aspects and community linkages.

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Current Social Inclusion and Development Initiatives Undertaken by UCA SOPPEXCCA

 

• Scholarship Program for children of associates

 

• School construction and remodelling works

 

• Care and support in health problems in coordination and agreement with the Ministry of Health.

 

• Food security and nutrition for members families and the wider community

 

• Training and development programmes for youth

 

• Economic support and advice for entrepreneurship with young people

 

• Environmental protection campaigns and programmes

 

• Protection and Inclusion of Children, Adolescents and Youths (Incorporating the training young people in aspects of reproductive health, conflict management and campaigns against violence, actions in favour of the environment, gender and new masculinity)

 

• Promotion of campaigns against gender based violence