Coffee farmers in Central America have been hit hard in recent years by both the impact of climate change and price volatility. With incomes declining, they are turning to other sources, especially ranching, and growing crops for their own livelihood. The problem is that those alternatives are not sustainable for their livelihoods or the environment. Since a significant portion of the world’s biodiversity is located in Central America, it is particularly important to protect the region’s environment.
A farmer in Nicaragua
Five years ago, Jefferson launched Shriver Doselva, a social enterprise based in Nicaragua and the US, focused on tackling that problem – in a big way. Shriver’s company, a coffee farmer with many years of experience working with smallholder NGOs, offers coffee farmers in Central America a turkey solution. Specifically, it not only helps them grow botanical ingredients for spices to sell to the food industry, but also established a new sustainable supply chain system to process and export those materials.
“This is a big problem and we had to think about a big solution,” says Shriver.
Diversify his crop
Shriver first learned about the potential of growing herbal ingredients during his time working with small farmers. He saw coffee farmers in Madagascar, Uganda and elsewhere successfully supplement their incomes by growing more profitable crops such as vanilla and cinnamon.
A coffee farmer in Nicaragua since 2006, Shriver decided to diversify into growing turmeric, ginger and cardamom in 2012 when he realized he couldn’t make it with just that one crop. He started with vanilla, which he says is native to the region. “I fell in love with vanilla,” he says, although it was more of a love-hate relationship since the crop is difficult to grow. That’s because you have to manually pollinate the flowers. In addition, they are very susceptible to diseases. Shriver then added turmeric, ginger and cardamom.
While working on his own diversification, Shriver started thinking about the challenges smallholder coffee farmers faced and what he could do about them. “I realized I could be more effective in the private sector to create a sustainable solution to some of the great problems of our time — environmental destruction and rural poverty — with a focus on coffee farmers,” he says. In 2017 he founded Doselva.
An anchor
The company acts as what Shriver describes as an “anchor,” buying, processing and exporting crops, including vanilla, turmeric, ginger and cardamom. But it also offers a range of services to farmers, including everything from technical assistance and transportation to help with the food safety and environmental certifications needed to sell to a premium market. And it provides farmers with organic fertilizers, seeds and insect repellent the better they can improve their yields.
Farmers in Nicaragua
Annual contracts are concluded with farmers at the start of the season. The company buys all the spice crops that farmers produce; they usually work on about three to five hectares of land. “That level of production makes it feasible for us to buy the entire harvest,” says Shriver. The contract includes things like certifications, different prices that farmers will be paid, and inputs, such as organic fertilizer.
Farmers generally continue to grow coffee, just less than before. Because the harvests for the various herbs take place after the coffee season is over, the new crops not only provide more money, but also provide an income buffer during what used to be a quiet time.
Customers and growth
The company mainly sells to supermarkets, but also to companies in food supplements, beverages and table herbs. About 40% of sales come from customers in the EU, 60% from the US
About 300 farmers are now participating. But Shriver expects that to more than triple by 2025. He also employs about 100 people at the company’s 15,000-square-foot processing plant on about five acres in Grenada. (Doselva has a lease and Shriver expects to take possession of the facility sometime this year). According to Shriver, up to more than 5,000 people per year will be affected by his new supply chain system. “We’re creating an industry,” says Shriver. “With spice as an engine, it creates employment and income opportunities – with a spillover effect beyond the farmers directly participating in our supply chain.” Farmers have been able to triple or even quadruple their income with crops that are more resistant to the effects of extreme weather than coffee, he says.
The company also just launched the program in Honduras, focusing on cardamom and all spices. Shriver also expects potential competitors to see his success and try to imitate it, further spreading the opportunity for people in the region.
Mentorship at Miller Center
In 2019, Shriver started an accelerator program Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, where he worked with mentors. When the pandemic hit, his mentors extended their guidance for another year. During that time, they also helped Shriver register as a Public Benefit Corp. and then establish a US-based holding company. Through Miller Center’s Truss Fund, Shriver secured a $150,000 loan that provided much-needed working capital to purchase new equipment and increased mentorship focused on investment readiness.
That money also served as catalytic capital, allowing Shriver to raise more equity and debt from other investors. “When entrepreneurs need funding and other institutional investors are hesitant, we can invest first and signal to the rest of the ecosystem that we have confidence in this entrepreneur,” said Alexander Pan, Miller Center’s director of impact investing.
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