​Cali, 27/09/2021

• These actions strengthen the associations of the reincorporated population in order to guarantee their economic sustainability and social transformation.
• This Board has been led by people in the process of reincorporation with the support of the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization, ARN since 2019. 
• This will generate more opportunities for ex-combatants within the framework of the Peace with Legality policy.

The aroma and essence of coffee will now have a special flavor of reconciliation and peace, with the launching of the National Coffee Board that will benefit hundreds of people in reincorporation throughout the country. 

This is an important project in which the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization, ARN, continues to commit to generating opportunities through the strengthening of partnerships, business management, economic sustainability, and social transformation of the population in the process of reincorporation. 

The National Coffee Board is the result of a collective construction and participation since January 2019, between those who are moving towards legality and the ARN, in order to strengthen the productive processes associated with coffee. 

Altogether, it is made up of 30 partnerships, belonging to the departments of Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Tolima, Cundinamarca, Huila, Risaralda, Meta, and Antioquia, which lead productive systems and processes related to coffee growing, for the benefit of more than a thousand people, including ex-combatants and members of the community. 

This official launch was held on Thursday, September 23rd, in the city of Cali, where the Director General of the ARN, Andrés Stapper; representatives of the coffee associations; local authorities and entrepreneurs of the region, announced the benefits in terms of economic sustainability that this will bring to those who continue committing themselves to peace. 

Among the strategies is the strengthening of the employability route, continuation of the training process in coffee specialization in the technical lines or certified courses in baristas, cupping, administrators, and agronomists.  

The meeting was also attended by representatives of agencies such as the Unidad Administrativa Especial de Organizaciones Solidarias (Special Administrative Unit of Solidarity Organizations), SENA, the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros (National Federation of Coffee Growers), Ascafé, Ecomún, the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, Tecnicafé, inter alia.

This launching made feasible to establish the objectives for the marketing of coffee in the national and international markets, as well as the guidelines of the new legal structure, so that the coffee planted, harvested, and produced by ex-combatants can reach the tables of people all over the world.

“The Agency has been making significant progress in promoting entrepreneurship and equity, and in this regard, supports the formalization process of the National Coffee Board, an instance that since 2018 has been led by people from the reincorporation process, who have seen in this work framework an opportunity to strengthen the partnerships, business management, economic sustainability and social transformation of their territories and communities", said Andrés Stapper, ARN's Director General. 

Meanwhile, Antonio Pardo, representative of the National Coffee Board, stated that “this step we are taking today will facilitate the economic stabilization of those of us who are committed to building a new life project by strengthening our capabilities and alternatives so that our products can guarantee the generation of income". 

Finally, new reconciliation scenarios will be opened and the national government's commitment to the reincorporation process will continue to be evidenced thanks to this project.

Interesting facts: 

• 5 collective projects with a coffee business line, involving 203 people in the process of reincorporation, for a total value of $2,049,261,499 Colombian Pesos, in the departments of Cauca, Tolima, Huila and Sucre. 

• 184 individual projects involving 201 people for a value of $ 1,607,974,947 Colombian Pesos, in 15 departments: Huila: 75, Tolima: 51, Cauca 22, Antioquia: 13, Caldas: 5, Caquetá: 4, Cesar: 3, Norte de Santander: 2, Cundinamarca: 2, Nariño: 2, Casanare: 1, La Guajira: 1, Valle del Cauca: 1, Risaralda: 1 and Santander: 1.