Innovakit is a technological platform through which we develop and implement knowledge transfer models to producers, technicians and rural workers, through different technological solutions that manage to generate a triple positive impact on farmers and families, communities and the environment. environment, generating social and economic benefits and restoration of ecosystems.
We created a social business model, called Technological Innovation Nuclei, which includes:
- Technological tools and simple training.
- Technical assistance based on digital technologies.
- Traceability: digital presence of producers on the internet.
- Ecosocial component with a view to carbon, water, plastic and labor neutrality.
We work in collaboration with the Departmental Coffee Committees. These committees serve as the territorial representation of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC) in the rural areas where coffee is produced. In Colombia, these committees are private, non-profit, and guild-based entities.
Innovakit offers various services, including technological tools and training for producers, quality assurance, and access to high-end markets. They also focus on environmental services, robotics programs, and income diversification for farmers. Innovakit’s initiatives have saved millions of cubic meters of water, provided economic benefits to producers, and planted thousands of trees. They’ve also empowered rural women, youth and benefited children and young people through their programs. Specialty coffee sales have increased, and producers receive a premium price.
Innovakit has also led the creation of a marketplace system involving various stakeholders from the private sector, government, producers, associations, as well as technology and service providers. With a primary focus on the agricultural and technological sectors, this collaboration ensures compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, including quality standards, traceability, sustainability, and market access.
In Colombia, we have benefited 2,000 coffee farmers through the technological innovation hub methodology. These farmers have benefited from the use of tools and equipment, process control, and the payment of carbon credits in recognition of reforestation and plastic collection activities. Internationally, we have made an impact on 1,800 coffee farmers in countries such as Peru, Guatemala, Uganda, among others. Each technological innovation hub has a minimum reach of 30 producers in the surrounding area. Therefore, it is estimated that indirectly we have reached more than 5,000 coffee farmers in Colombia and 2,000 in other countries.
Through the implementation of technological innovation hubs, we have achieved the following impacts:
- Saving more than 4.5 million cubic meters of water
- Economic savings for producers of over $406,000, around of to the implementation of technological tools.
- Construction of a native species nursery in the municipality of Chaparral – Tolima, Colombia.
- Planting more than 5,000 trees to restore ecosystems.
- Disbursement of 146 free investment credits for coffee growers with a single guarantee through the signature. Of them, 61% extended to women.
- Accumulated loans totaling $36,000.
- Benefit to more than 100,000 coffee farmers in Colombia and other countries.
- Impact on 5 countries.
- Benefiting 200 children and youth through a robotics program.
- Payment of a $3 bonus per tree planted to the producer for reforestation.
- Payment of a $0.33 bonus per kilogram of plastic collected to the producer.
- Opening of 3 new markets by 2023.
- A 10% increase in specialty coffee sales as a percentage of total production.
- Average premium paid to producers at 2 times the local market price.
