A quarter of the rural households in Colombia depend on coffee as their main source of income.
Colombian coffee production is dominated by smallholders — the average farm has just 1.7 hectares planted with coffee.
Farmers established the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros (FNC) as a cooperative organisation. It has since developed into a semigovernmental body funded by a levy on coffee exports.
Coffee in Colombia is planted at high densities, with more than 5,000 trees per hectare on average, most grown under partial shade.
The average yield in Colombia is up to 20 bags per hectare. By comparison, Brazilian farmers produce 30–33 bags per hectare.