Coffee loans

It's possible to look in El Salvador and find models of sustainable development. One such situation is feature in a report from Reuters regarding a coffee cooperative strengthening its farmer members by making small loans available:

A gourmet coffee growers cooperative in El Salvador plans to open a lending arm to give members access to cash for farm improvements and help protect them against coffee market downturns.

Many coffee farmers in El Salvador have had trouble getting loans since coffee prices crashed at the beginning of the decade and banks became wary of funding the volatile crops....

That is why the San Jose de la Majada coffee cooperative is branching out, using money saved from coffee sales and investments over its four-decade history to open a financing arm for members.

"We learned something from the coffee crisis, that it's not safe to have all your eggs in one basket, you have to diversify," said Roberto Delgado, who manages the cooperative nestled in the country's eastern mountain range.

Delgado said the first small loans will be given to farmers who want to improve their crops by buying fertilizers and new farm tools....The long-term goal, Delgado said, is to allow members to take out loans to fund university tuitions for their children, build a house or open a small business.(more)

There's lots to like about this story -- farmers with family-supporting income, revenues staying local to support the community, and coffee farms learning to grow gourmet beans to obtain higher prices.