Evo, 7, and Nelson, 5, in front of their house in Maubisse, Timor-Leste. Their father, Miguel Conçâo Da Costa, 52, is a coffee farmer who’s family is one of twenty part of a coffee farming cooperative called COCAMAU with 592 members. He has 10 children and joined the cooperative in 2002 and as one of its earliest members. The coop provided training on how to maintain, manage and replant aging coffee trees resulting in increased production and field expansion. The People Trade Company, a Japanese NGO, purchases coffee beans from local farmers and markets them for distribution. They participate in the CRS Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) project which provides technical assistance to farmers like Miguel and his family.
Background:
CRS F2F Program is a USAID funded 5-year program (July 2018 – June 2023) that will provide technical assistance from United States (U.S) volunteers to farmers, farmer groups (cooperatives and associations), agribusinesses and other agriculture sector institutions. The program objectives are to facilitate economic growth within targeted agriculture sub-sectors, enhance sub-sector inclusiveness to expand participation to a broader range of individuals and communities and to increase the American public’s understanding of international development issues and US international development programs. F2F program will assist in agriculture development, commodity value chain competitiveness and firm upgrading by providing technical assistance to introduce new technologies, innovations and development of local capacity for more productive, profitable, sustainable and equitable agriculture systems.