Asociacion Chajulense Va'l Vaq Quyol S.A. (Chajulense)
Coop Name: Asociacion Chajulense Va'l Vaq Quyol S.A. (Chajulense)
Location: San Gaspar de Chajul, Quiche, Guatemala
Partner since: 2000
Number of Producers: 1198 (12% Women)
Average land under production per farmer: 1 Ha (~2.4 Acres)
Certifications: Organic, Fair Trade
Varieties:Caturra, Catimor, Sarchimor, Bourbon, Tipica
Altitude: 850-1600 meters above sea level
Processes: Washed
A little bit of history: Asociación Chajulense Va´l Vaq Quyol (in the local Maya Ixil language va’l vaq quyol means “union”) is located in the municipality of San Gaspar Chajul in the Ixil region of western Guatemala. The Chajulense was founded in 1990 with the support of local priests. At its outset, the immediate goal of the association was “to support survival in the midst of war, in a climate of violence and profound mistrust, poverty, and injustice”. The Ixil region was deeply impacted during the Guatemalan civil war and the indigenous Maya Ixil people were targeted by the military as alleged collaborators of guerrilla fighters. The most intense violence in this area occurred during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. The Chajulense was founded specifically with the goal of helping to support the people and communities deeply impacted by the horrific violence and genocide carried out by the military.
In its first two years, the association focused on basic community needs and built a pharmacy, a granary, and a small store. The Chajulense also worked on supporting the production of corn and the sale of cattle, the recovery and remodeling of an old home that had been taken over by the army to use as an office. It was in 1989 with the help of UCIRI—a Mexican coffee farmer cooperative—that the Chajulense moved to focus on coffee as an economic opportunity to market and sell through the farmer association.
Beginning in 2010, the leadership at Chajulense doubled down on efforts to enter into the specialty coffee market and focused on highlighting their specialty quality, organic, fair trade, and high altitude coffees. The Chajulense reached their highest export levels in the 2011/2012 harvest cycle but shortly after this, the farmer members began to see the devastation caused by coffee leaf rust. In 2013, the farmer members were only able to produce and export approximately 25% of the total volume that they had exported in 2012 due to the rust crisis.
From 2014 to 2017, the association has been developing support systems for producer members to recover their production through farm renovation with disease resistant varietals. With external support, Chajulense has strengthened their technical assistance team with experts in organic production.
Over the course of three decades of existence, the Chajulense has experienced cycles of growth and decline. The association has been able to directly impact the livelihoods of affiliated members and the more than 3000 families in the San Gaspar Chajul municipality.
