Peru Chaquimayo

Manuel was one of the early Valle Inca members. He has 4 children, all of them are grown up and have started their own families. Only one of his sons, Dofan Wilian Patilla, works in coffee. One of his children studied International Business and works in Cusco, and one of his children works in agriculture in Madre de Dios (a neighboring department in Perú). Manuel primarily has Typica, but also some Bourbon and Caturra. More recently, he started planting Geisha. He has participated in COE and in the Golden Cup (Fairtrade coffee competition) with his Bourbon.
Nestled in the Yanatile Valley in the Department of Cusco in the south of Peru, Valle Inca functions as a producer group. Where Prudencio Vargas Saenz who created and runs the group, buys parchment from farmers and reinvests the premiums earned for quality back into the community’s infrastructure to help them continue to improve quality. Prudencio, who lives in nearby Calca brings the benefits of his previous experience as an agricultural loan officer, and used to operate outside of the protection of a collective. After years of running Valle Inca informally, he formalized the organization in 2020 to gain organic certification, Fair Trade certification, and the ability to export on their own. Member-wise, Valle Inca is growing fast! With more than 100 farmers currently as members, it’s no surprise that more and more farmers in the Yanatile Valley want to work with Valle Inca. In the community, Prudencio is known for his honesty, his trustworthiness, his dedication and his drive to invest and reinvest in his community. The farmers feel like Prudencio is genuinely engaging their goals and concerns. He also pays higher prices than Valle Inca’s farmers had access to prior to their founding. This fact has helped to improve quality as well as overall community health over time.