Producing certified coffee and timber in Nicaragua

Location

Matagalpa Department, Nicaragua

About the project:

Cafetalera Nicafrance is an agroforestry company that specializes in the production of high-quality certified coffee and timber in Nicaragua’s Matagalpa department. Founded in 1992, Nicafrance has grown to become one of the biggest coffee farms in Central America, supplying large international roasters and leading coffee brands. Nicafrance owns a large independent coffee farm, La Cumplida, of over 1,500 hectares, including 660 hectares of tree-shaded coffee plantations.

Moringa Fund, an Initiative 20x20 financial partner, has supported Nicafrance through the development of an outgrower program that targets small and medium-sized farms in the Matagalpa region. The program focuses on farms that have been affected by the 2012 outbreak of coffee leaf rust, as well as climate change and aims to rehabilitate 2,000 hectares of degraded land. Its goal is to create a premium coffee production cluster for international high-end roasters.

The program’s coffee cluster will produce around 5,000 tonnes of specialty coffee per year for high-end roasters in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. The premium price will contribute to the company’s social initiatives, providing secure livelihoods for Nicafrance's workers. The program will also support smallholder farmers in developing sustainable logging methods.

Nicafrance’s impact on the local community is significant. So far, it has created up to 6,000 permanent and seasonal jobs. The company also provides healthcare, transportation, housing and education to its workers and their families. It's also a major carbon sink, sequestering over 500,000 tons of CO2.

Investment type