Donald Delgado has been the Manager of UNICAFEC since 2019, pictured in his office in Cajamarca, Peru. Credit: Donald Delgado
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit rural communities across the globe, smallholder farmers couldn’t simply “work from home.” Producers and their families not only depended on the annual harvest for their livelihoods, but they understood that the success or failure of their agricultural businesses would determine the resilience of their communities for years to come.
For UNICAFEC, a coffee cooperative in Peru and a loan recipient of Root Capital since 2006, the pandemic resulted in a major crossroads. UNICAFEC’s Manager, Donald Delgado had to figure out how to carry out the urgent demands of the harvest, all the while ensuring the safety and livelihoods of farmers across the region.
The Challenge
Despite a swift government response, Peru was one of the countries most impacted by the pandemic. The virus spread from urban centers to rural communities like San Ignacio, far from essential services and medical care—arriving just in time for the harvest.
“In other years, farm workers migrated from other regions to San Ignacio to help with the harvest,” explains Donald. But in 2020, for the first time in memory, they didn’t come, leaving hundreds of farmers without support.
Knowing some loss would be inevitable, Donald’s team adjusted their production targets accordingly, but the amount of coffee they were receiving from their farmer-members was still well below what they predicted.
UNICAFEC soon discovered why. Wary of traveling to town, where their coffee could have been sold at better prices, farmers were selling their coffee at lower prices to local traders who traveled door-to-door, thereby compromising the business and their own livelihoods.
Recognizing the need to pivot, Donald and his team enlisted Root Capital for help. Though the Peruvian government allowed agricultural businesses to continue operations as long as they instituted biosafety protocols, UNICAFEC wasn’t sure how to effectively apply public health guidance for all its members.
UNICAFEC members collaborate during a 2024 Business Management Advisory training session at their offices in Cajamarca, Peru. Credit: Root Capital
Our Collaboration
UNICAFEC was far from the only business struggling with health and safety during the pandemic. That’s why Root Capital’s team developed a guide for our clients around safe harvesting and business operations that addressed proper sanitization, digital payments, and methods to share updates with cooperative members. UNICAFEC also worked with a Root Capital advisor in remote training sessions to tailor the guide into a customized safety plan.
Under Root Capital’s COVID-19 resilience grant program—which supported businesses across Latin America, Africa, and Indonesia—UNICAFEC received $5,000 to establish sanitizing stations. They were also able to hire a COVID-19 ambassador to educate members on the rules and monitoring for compliance. Cooperative staff traveled into the mountains to distribute masks and explain new protocols to member farmers. By prioritizing health, the cooperative was able to instill confidence in its members, increase coffee volume, and keep the community safe.
The Impact
Ultimately, UNICAFEC not only weathered the pandemic, but used that rallying moment of change as an opportunity to build long-term resilience. Since 2021, UNICAFEC has utilized all of Root Capital’s advisory services, including Business Management, Digital Business Intelligence, Agronomic & Climate Resilience, and Gender Equity Advisory. Most recently, the cooperative has been working with Root Capital’s climate team to create learning plots where they can evaluate soil quality and test out climate-smart fertilizers.
UNICAFEC is now equipped with the tools, skills, and resources to better manage the uncertainty of the future and continue fostering resilient livelihoods for its producers.