CAC Huadquiña and Farmers’ Voice Radio
In 2024, Peruvian coffee co-operative CAC Huadquiña participated in the Farmers’ Voice Radio Academy and officially graduated from the course in 2025.
Announcing to LinkedIn, Farmers' Voice Radio said:
"Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Huaquiña is the recipient of our first small grant for graduates of the Latin America Farmers’ Voice Radio Academy. Five members of Huaquiña’s management and field team attended the online training and coaching course at the end of last year, alongside peers from 11 other smallholder coffee producer organisations based in Peru, Nicaragua and Honduras."
CAC Huaquiña’s Farmers’ Voice Radio programme will be broadcast on two radio stations in the indigenous Quechua language, reaching an audience of 2,000 families in the Santa Teresa district of Cusco, southern Peru.
The programme aims to increase the reach and impact of the training and extension services offered by the co-operative to its members, with a focus on sustainable land management, building resilience to the impacts of climate change and meeting evolving EU regulations.
Explaining why he wants to learn to produce radio programmes, Omar, a member of CAC Huadquiña, said:
‘We want to communicate and inform [our members] about the activities of the organisation and topics related to agricultural techniques, production, social issues and quality control. We also aim to broadcast the policies on collection, financing, and the national and international market situation.”
“Farmers’ Voice Radio could help [members be] better informed, trained and educated; board members being accountable for management on the radio, and staff being more committed to the cooperative.”
Jhony Gayoso Valdera, General Manager of CAC Huaquiña, said:
“Farmers’ Voice Radio strengthens capacities, skills, and knowledge through a shared experience among producers, who express their concerns. These concerns are analysed by the Programme Reference Group and invited professionals to deepen immediate solutions, allowing for improved agronomic practices, higher yields and quality, economic empowerment of both men and women, and greater resilience to climate change. Ultimately, this contributes to more secure livelihoods, maximizing the quality of life for producers in society.”
CAC Huadquiña provides a stable livelihood for 310 smallholders
, each growing quality Fairtrade and Organic coffee on 948 hectares of farmland along some of the highest mountainsides in the world.
Shared Interest has supported CAC Huadquiña with finance since 2022, helping the organisation to secure and fulfil coffee contracts and grow. The co-operative currently trades one-quarter of its coffee locally and exports the remainder to buyers in France, Germany, Greece and America. One of CAC Huadquiña’s main buyers is ethical UK-based coffee retailer and friend of Shared Interest, Cafedirect.
Speaking to Santiago, Shared Interest Customer Representative for South America, Jhony said:
"Shared Interest financing has had a positive impact on the Huadquiña cooperative, especially in offering us fast financing at the beginning of the campaign, generating positive impacts on:
- Access to fast and timely financing to compete with intermediaries who destabilize local market prices and who, with the intervention of the cooperative, regulate prices.
- Economic growth to grow and expand by generating jobs and strengthening the collections with financing.
- Improving the quality of life of producers with fair and timely payment for their coffee supported by the financing granted by Shared Interest."
