Colombia's National Government has approved an agreement to rescue the Cooperativa de Caficultores de los Andes (Cooperandes) from imminent liquidation. This measure safeguards thousands of small coffee growers in southwest Antioquia after years of intervention. The deal, reconciled with key creditors, will soon be presented to the Assembly of Creditors.
Cooperandes, under intervention since 2019, faced liquidation risks for years due to financial failures from breaches in futures contracts. Many associates chose not to deliver their committed production, as the agreed price was lower than the market value of the beans at the time. This impacted around 4,000 associates, mainly small and medium coffee growers.
In an extraordinary session of the National Committee of the National Coffee Fund held this Tuesday, the Ministries of Finance and Agriculture, along with the Superintendency of the Solidarity Economy, finalized the viability of the creditors' agreement. After months of technical, legal, and social work, the deal resolves key disputes, such as the valuation of the debt with the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC). Initially, the FNC estimated the debt at $134 billion, while Cooperandes calculated it at $90 billion; it has now been reconciled at $86 billion.
The agreement is ready for approval at the Assembly of Creditors, convened by the Government and comprising banks and the FNC. María José Navarro, Superintendent of the Solidarity Economy, emphasized: “For the first time in the history of the solidarity sector, a cooperative emerges from a liquidation process. Cooperandes shows that it is possible to consider other alternatives that allow recovery rather than liquidation; recovering the coffee cooperative system for small producers is a bet of this Government. We will now be more vigilant to return the governance of this cooperative to its true owners, the small coffee growers of southwest Antioquia.”
This initiative safeguards at least 3,907 producer families, 79% of whom are small coffee growers, preventing risks of liens on their properties. From the Ministry of Agriculture, it was stated: “The Government has been especially careful in safeguarding the interests of small and medium coffee producers in southwest Antioquia.” The rescue aims to return the organization to its legitimate owners, strengthening the coffee cooperative sector.