Yara Supports Women in Colombia’s Coffee Growing Sector
Yara Supports Women in Colombia’s Coffee Growing Sector
Coffee Network (Bogota)- Norway-based fertilizer company Yara said it is strengthening the female presence in agriculture through initiatives such as the Colombian chapter of the International Women's Coffee Alliance (IWCA), whose objective has been to empower and connect the work of various coffee-growing women in the country. Likewise, it has supported the Women in Agronomy program, which seeks to increase the development of professional women in the sector through the transfer of knowledge.
The company hopes the programs to motivate more women to continue working in the agricultural sector.
Yara yesterday along with the Colombian Embassy in Norway, organized an event at the company's Oslo headquarters to commemorate and exalt the empowerment and positive impact of rural women, particularly coffee farmers in the country.
Specialty coffee is one of Colombia's export bets thanks to its softness and production through sustainable practices, bringing better benefits to its growers.
The Colombian Agricultural Rural Planning Unit (UPRA) estimates that the rural population of women in the countryside is 5.8 million.
“Women have a key role in achieving economic, social and environmental changes that contribute to adequate sustainable development. Therefore, it is essential to support and recognize their leadership and work in the field, their ability to form and develop environments, their sense of family, their vision of agribusiness and their contribution to the country's economy,” Yara said.
The Social Development Directorate of the National Federation of Coffee Growers records that 30% of coffee growers in the country are women. This crop is strategic for the national economy and is gaining more ground every day thanks to the production of specialty coffees. To consider a coffee to be special, it must have a rating of 86 points or higher, according to the international SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) evaluation system. The above confirms Colombia's position as the best mild coffee in the world.
One of the key actors for the visibility and support of women in the field is the business sector. Yara, for example, has promoted the transformation towards more just, equitable and integrated societies, through training and support programs that aim to encourage their work in the agricultural sector, whether as entrepreneurs or part of the rural population. In addition, it has offered solutions that contribute to the prosperity of its coffee plantations and projects such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at the Cartagena plant, which at the beginning of 2024 will reduce the carbon footprint by 60%, and which will allow greater decarbonization in the final production of coffee beans, contributing to compliance with international standards.
On the other hand, for eight years the Yara Champion Program has had the main objective of recognizing the effort and good practices of coffee growers, achieving harvests of the best quality and, above all, generating a lower impact on the carbon footprint generated by their production. crop. The most outstanding women producers of the bean have been awarded and, to date, more than 300 have participated and nearly 18,900 have been trained in activities such as coffee e-learning or field days with women's associations.
Within the promotion of these associations is Café Sello Mujer, which for 10 years has associated more than 40 coffee growers in the Valle del Cauca region, in order to improve coffee production through the conscious use of fertilizers, adoption of better agricultural practices and that aim at sustainability, while leading a better quality of life and productivity.
Environmental Impact
Yara has two environmental projects that will reduce emissions in Colombia while improve fertilizers to coffee plantations.
As a pilot project, Yara will bring green ammonia or green fertilizers produced in Europe to apply to coffee plantations aiming to favor the environmental profile of Colombian coffee, and potentially enabling coffee to be sold with a premium as it will use green fertilizers.
Yara also plans to install a catalyst at its Cartagena plant by sequestering nitrous oxide.
The project aims to prevent the emission of 500,000 tonnes of CO2 per year of the total 560,000 tonnes of CO2 that it currently emits, which will reduce emissions by 90pc and lower the carbon footprint of the fertilizers that come out of the plant by 60pc. For coffee, the project aims to reduce emissions by 110,000 tonnes per year.
Yara currently produces 400,000 tonnes/year of finished fertilized products in Colombia, while imports an additional 350,000 tonnes-450,000 tonnes of fertilizers to cover the local market. Yara sells in 800,000 tonnes of fertilizers, or 47% of the Colombian fertilizer market which demands 1.7 milion tonnes per year. Yara plans to increase NPK production at its Cartagena plant to 380,000 tonnes /year, up from its existing capacity of 300,000t to help reduce imports of NPK.
Yara sells 2 million tonnes /yr in Latin America, excluding Brazil, of which Colombia contributes with 800,000 tonnes.
Yara is currently the only company in the sector in Colombia that has an NPKs and Calcium Nitrate production plant in Cartagena; one of mixtures in Yotoco, Valle del Cauca; and two distribution terminals for the areas of Urabá and the center of the country.
Yara promotes a regenerative agriculture, which means it produces sustainable fertilizers.
Yara said it permanently supplies fertilizers to the national agriculture despite the war, the energy crisis and the production cuts that generated fertilizer shortages at a global level, helping to guarantee Colombia's food security.
Yara will continue betting on the development of the national countryside through the transfer of knowledge and programs that train small farmers in Good Agricultural Practices. The objective is to increase productivity and improve the quality of crops such as coffee, corn, cocoa, pastures, potatoes, rice, flowers, palm and cane, through the adoption of fertilizers with less environmental impact. To date, more than 30,000 producers have been trained and the goal is to multiply that number.
