FECCEG

La Federación Comercializadora de Café Especial de Guatemala (FECCEG) is a second-level cooperative owned by seventeen agricultural cooperatives working with 1,550 smallholder farmers in Western Guatemala. 85% of the farmers belong to Mayan indigenous groups. FECCEG provides resources, training, and technical assistance on the organic production of specialty coffee. The cooperative also operates a coffee mill as well as a facility to process honey and sugar cane. Beneficial Returns extended a $300,000 working capital loan to enable FECCEG to make timely payments to coffee farmers with a Fair Trade premium that is 30-40% higher than market prices. FECCEG started as a Reciprocity Fund borrower and has now graduated to the main fund.