Currently, the number of COVID-19 cases in Colombia continues to rise, coinciding with the country's main coffee harvest. For the thousands of communities that depend on one coffee harvest a year, the next few months are crucial. Even when a vaccination plan is already being followed in the country.
In the first phase of the program, we worked to guarantee biosafety and prevention of COVID-19 for more than 1,770 coffee-growing families in Cauca and Caldas.
In this second phase, also financed by the Starbucks Foundation, it is expected to support particularly women coffee growers from Cauca and their families, to prevent and mitigate the effects of the pandemic, especially the period in which they harvest and sell their coffee.
To prevent contagion and keep families informed about COVID-19 prevention and vaccination, we will implement a campaign that will be disseminated through billboards, radio programs, text messages and WhatsApp.
This prevention campaign will include information on health prevention protocols, measures adopted by the entities, the prevention of gender violence and child labor during the harvest period.
In addition, we will deliver 800 water filters to coffee-growing families and we will provide hand washing stations and biosafety kits to 36 purchasing agencies, where more than 38,000 families in Cauca sell coffee; in an effort to ensure a safe, prosperous and reliable harvest.
