Farm info

The Paez people, also called the Nasa, are an indigenous group who live in the Cacua Department of Colombia. In the 1970’s renewed recognition of indigenous land rights led property to be returned to indigenous groups as communal reserves.

Once the Nasa were again in possession of land, they began to search for economic opportunities in keeping with ancestral understandings of farming in harmony with nature. Through partnerships with organizations in France, coffee was decided to be an ideal crop for the Nasa community to grow as part of a return to traditions of sustainable agriculture.

Fondo Paez was established in 1992, with an administrative board comprised of representatives from each region of Nasa land who to oversee a rotating fund that supports the association’s members. Farming families plant Typcica and Caturra varieties of coffee and devote their efforts to improving the soil, building nurseries, working together, and conserving the Nasa custom of respecting the environment.

In 2002 Fondo Paez earned organic certification and Fairtrade certification in 2007. In 2012, the producers’ association begins exporting coffee with Expocosurca and in 2016 builds their first propritory cupping lab.