We visited Las Delicias for second microfinance.
The producers are pruning the old coffee trees and planting new coffee trees. Because of high costs for the new season preparation, the Las Delicias producers asked for more help and we decided to help them with additional fund.
Since the start of the rainy season in September, it has been raining every night. As a result, the unpaved road to Las Delicias became even rougher. When the harvest time comes close, the government fix the road for them. However the village has to pay for the cost of heavy machinery fuel.
From the nearest city, it takes two hours of unpaved mountain road. This time, we asked Las Delicias producers a special request.The request was about opening a bank account. Among the producers, only one producer had a bank account. Just like many other producers in Chiapas, they don’t have enough money to keep it in the bank. It costs money to keep the account and there is no money left at the end of the season so they don’t see the use for an account.
The reason behind the bank account is the economic instability in Mexico. In addition to that, a lot of coffee producers harvested much less volume last year due to Roya. As a result, the risk of burglary has been increasing day by day. The risk of buying and selling coffee with cash became even higher now in Mexico. Opening a bank account is good for E-Café and producers in that way. We are able to pay safely and producers can receive money safely without the risk of burglary.
For the safety of both E-Café members and the producers, we asked them to open a bank account. They were reluctant to it at first but they decided to do it. We gave them the fee for opening a bank account.
We hope that they have enough money in the bank account soon so that they have be an independent producer who don’t need to get help from us.
(Las Delicias group leader Abel showing his farm with 6000 new trees)
(15-16 year harvest starting early)
Get Social