Gender and agricultural sustainability: case study of Colombian coffee

This paper investigates how gender-based marketing strategies for Colombian coffee have affected gender roles and the economic and social advancement of women producers. In order to meet the demands of a European roaster interested in coffee produced by women, a Colombian coffee cooperative developed a female growers' program in 2000 which has grown into an association of 344 women. The study examines the effects of this program on improving profits as well as on individual and community living standards. The study is based on interviews with members of the Asociacion de Mujeres Caficultoras Cauca (AMUCC) in Colombia during the summer of 2007. It concludes that the use of gender in global marketing can contribute to the economic, social as well as environmental sustainability of the communities and persons involved.