Interview with Maria Nohemy Guegue Ramos (English)

(This interview was contributed by Simon Winograd, a Specialty Coffee Professional focusing on issues of sustainability and community initiatives in Colombia and Mexico.

Simon visited the Fondo Paez Cooperative in Cauca and met Nohemy there. From their website, Fondo Paez is located in the remote, highland regions of Cauca and is made up of members from the Paez community: “the Paez (who also call themselves Nasa, or “the people”) is the largest indigenous group in Colombia. Fondo Paez was founded in 1992, with the primary goal of recuperating traditional agricultural knowledge and indigenous culture which had been buried by centuries of conflict and oppression.”

The following was conducted live in Colombia, and was lightly edited for clarity.)

Can you give us a brief description of who you are and what you do?

I’m Maria Nohemy Guegue Ramos. I’m part of the indigenous communities of the north of Cauca, especially in the Ancestral Territory of Munchique Los Tigres, in the municipality of Santander de Quilichao, in Cauca, Colombia. 

In the same way I am a smallholder producer of coffee alongside my parents, with an average of 0.16 hectares of land.

How was your work in coffee born?  

My work in coffee was born because my parents have cultivated many typical varieties of coffee for many years, and in their way they started to diversify their crop for our own family consumption, and from that experience of my parents, my siblings and I appropriated that mentality in order to continue cultivating organic coffees. And on top of that, in educational spaces there is a big push for agricultural work and from there they seek to replicate that work for agriculture in the young people of today. 

What’s your title in your organization at the Fondo Paez Cooperative?

Within the organization, I am named the General Treasurer for the general assembly. 

A theme that's circulating around the world of coffee is sustainability. What does that mean for you? 

For me, sustainability is to respond to the needs that present themselves in familial, social, and environmental levels.

Of what importance is this concept (of sustainability) in an organization like yours?  

Within the organization it’s fundamental to respond to the needs that arise from climate change and, in this way, guarantee the future of new generations, while leaving a healthy and good natural environment.

From your point of view, are there differences in the forms of leadership among women and men? (Actually there are comparisons in the management of the real situation with COVID-19 between male and female leaders).

In the organization, what has been reflected in the last 4 years is to not accept that women have the capacity to be leaders, however with the work being carried out the support of the men has been seen. 

In this time of the pandemic, the ancestral authorities, whether they’re male or female, come working in the areas of territorial control, even if we know that there’s not great coordination between women, but the territorial control process is maintained with more strength.

How are you managing the real situation of the coronavirus (in your organization)? Have you changed your protocols/practices for harvesting, washing, etc with coffee? What are the biggest challenges you face as an organization with COVID-19? (Do you believe that it will change the relationships along the value chain?)

We as an association, to face this pandemic we are working in accordance with the mandates of the traditional authorities. With the situation of the pandemic, the biggest challenge as an organization was bringing everyone together to reach an agreement with the ancestral authorities to continue working with producers in different municipalities. 

Given the real situation of COVID-19, what can we do as allies, partners, roasters, buyers, friends in order to help face these challenges you face in the pandemic? 

With this situation of COVID-19, the allies in commerce that we have, have been dependent on our work, in which we have no difficulties.

For more information about the situation for territorial control in Cauca, check out THIS ARTICLE and subscribe to the podcast COLOMBIA CALLING. If you know of other resources, please share them — we would like to learn more about this region of Cauca.