The ‘Slow Food Productores de café LIFT Jinotega’ community was formed in March 2022 in San Sebastian, Yali, in the region of Jinotega with 30 participants, and was promoted as part of Mercon Coffee’s LIFT platform.

The purpose of the community is to “promote responsible (good, clean and fair) coffee production with the communities where the coffee is produced.”

The community started the Coffee Coalition’s Participatory Certification process with field visits and checklist compilation to an initial sample of 30 community coffee producers.

Farming system: Coffee is grown in the shade in a consociated agroforestry system with primary and secondary shade trees and other products for family consumption.

Producers: 65 producers.

Initiative of the Participatory Guarantee System:

In March 2022, Mercon’s LIFT platform, facilitated training on PGS and Slow Food and presented the structure to the Slow Food Community. The Slow Food Community decided to establish its own PGS initiative and elected its Ethical Committee. The Guarantee Group and the producers carried out the first field visits to producers in three stages, completing the first PGS trial.

Quantity of coffee (green beans for export): about 5,000 bags per harvest

Country: Nicaragua

Region: Jinotega

Varieties: Parainema, Pacas, Catuai, Caturra

Altitude: about 1,100 masl

Harvest period: November to February

Process: Washed and Specialty