Raising Coffee Farmers’ Voices in Latin America

Photo credit: The Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers and Workers (CLAC)

Over the last two years, the Farmers’ Voice Radio Academy has been supporting 25 smallholder coffee cooperatives from across Latin America to use participatory media to strengthen their engagement with members and improve access to knowledge about sustainable and quality coffee production.  As the Academy draws to a close, we are delighted to share some highlights, as well as reflections from cooperative leaders on how Farmers’ Voice Radio has benefited their organisations and positive impacts reported by listeners to the resulting radio programmes.

In numbers:

• 52 individuals (26 women, or 50%) from 25 coffee cooperatives (10 from Peru, 9 from Colombia, 4 from Mexico,1 from Honduras and 1 from Nicaragua) participated in online training on the FVR approach.

  
  

• Five cooperatives received small grants of US$3,500-5,000 to get their radio programmes on air: Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Huadquiña based in the Cuzco region of Peru; Asociación de Productores Indígenas Seynekun and Red Ecolsierra, both from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia; and Café Gourmet Sierra Azul and Café Capitán Luis A. Vidal SPR de RL, both based in Chiapas, Mexico.

  
  

• Across the five radio programmes, 273 smallholder coffee farmers actively participated in generating content and had their voices and experiences broadcast on local radio and social media platforms.

  
  

• By the end of April 2026, the five cooperatives had broadcast more than 200 individual programme episodes (repeated across multiple platforms) reaching a combined audience of up to 138,000 rural adults across the three countries.

  
  

• Focus group discussions with listeners to the five programmes suggest that 92% have gained new knowledge on how to improve coffee quality, yield and income, and 63% have applied this knowledge through adoption of improved practices. 

Reflecting on their experience of using Farmers’ Voice Radio, cooperative leaders highlighted the following:

• Radio has helped them to reach dispersed producers and those in isolated communities who “can be many hours [away] on foot or mule” (Seynekun) and often lack reliable phone or internet signal. This medium is particularly accessible to busy smallholder coffee farmers as they can listen “while resting or working” and it is “easier to understand than technical trainings” (Huadquiña).

  
  

• The radio programmes have strengthened the relationship between cooperatives and their members, increasing transparency and trust. All five cooperatives emphasised the two-way nature of their broadcasts, which has increased leaders’ empathy for their members’ situation (“we understood their difficulties and feelings more deeply” – Sierra Azul) and made producers feel more connected and valued (“now there is more space to give opinions” – Red Ecolsierra). At least two cooperatives have received an increased number of enquiries from potential new members as a result of the programmes.

  
  

• The programmes have created a much-needed platform for producer stories. Smallholder farmers want their contribution to the global coffee industry to be heard and recognised, and those whose voices and experiences were broadcast are seen as “knowledge leaders”. In addition, listeners trust the information they hear because it comes from their peers, helping them to them feel “less alone”.

  
  

• Radio/audio can be a powerful tool for inclusion, especially for women and youth. Red Ecolsierra deliberately set out to “motivate young people and highlight women’s work,” while Café Capitán’s podcast attempts to counter the outward migration of young people to urban areas and overseas by “inviting [them] to stay and fight for opportunities here”.

  
  

• In cultures where oral communication is central to knowledge-sharing within communities and across generations, storytelling on the radio can be a powerful way to teach and inspire. Seynekun’s programme ‘Conexiones Madre Tierra’ fuses technical and ancestral knowledge in a blend of Spanish and the indigenous Arhuaco language Ikʉ, strengthening identity and cohesion. As leaders explained: “This programme helps preserve our knowledge for children and young people.”

  
  

• Broadcasting across multiple platforms, including FM radio, social media and podcast channels ensures that content has a maximum reach at different times of day, through a range of media and even in the most remote locations.

Interviews with individual listeners to each of the five FVR programmes demonstrate the benefits that have been felt in smallholder coffee farming communities in Peru, Colombia and Mexico. Such as Vivian Colorado Martes, member of Red Ecolsierra primary society Renacer de la Sierra. She said:

“I like the programme because it provides a space where we can all interact, where we know the concerns and knowledge of other members, where we are not afraid to talk… and can share and acquire knowledge related to the topics that matter to us, such as coffee, cocoa and honey.

The most interesting thing that I found in this programme is the technical part, the part where they teach us how to produce coffee of high quality, how to have good coffee management from the farm to the harvest and how to get a good product to the market.

The programme it has changed a lot in me personally; it has caused my personal growth and changed the way I listen. Before, to be honest, I didn't pay much attention to the radio programme*. Now I listen to it, I make other people listen to it. I encourage young people to listen to the programme, and we give prominence to women, young people and children.”

Vivian Colorado Martes, smallholder coffee farmer and member of Red Ecolsierra cooperative

Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram pages for more individual stories.

This Farmers’ Voice Radio Academy was implemented in partnership with the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers and Workers.

It would not have been possible without the generous support of the following companies and organisations:

• Coffee Circle Foundation (principal donor)

• Manchester, Dublin and Birmingham Coffee Festivals (Cup North and Husky Events)

• Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust

• Souter Charitable Trust

• Pignatelli Foundation

• Southall Trust

• Austin Bailey Foundation

• Coffee companies, including Dark Woods, Espresso Solutions, Bell Lane, Clifton Roasters and Dog n Hat

• Coffee lovers all over the UK, who have participated in our raffles.

Thank you to all our amazing supporters and partners!