San Isidro - Colombia 2015

CoE Ranking: 6

Farm: San Isidro

Farmer: Alirio Aguilera Ospina

Birth Place & Date: Palestina, Huila, July 26, 1966

Age: 48

Parents: Marco Aurelio Aguilera Torres & Bárbara Ospina Mosquera

Siblings: 4, María de Jesús/Ofelia/Marco Antonio/Luz Marina Aguilera Ospina

Wife’s Name: Nubia Muñoz Campos

Children: Diana Carolina/Óscar Alirio/Jhon Sebastián AGUILERA MUÑOZ

Academic Level: High School

Farm: San Isidro

Vereda (Rural District): El Líbano

Corregimiento (Municipal Sub-division): no

Municipality: Palestina

Department: Huila

Total Area Grown with Coffee: 8 hectares

% planted with resistant varieties (Colombia & Castillo):

% planted with susceptible varieties (Caturra):

% of Young Technologically Advanced Coffee Plantations:

Other farm crops: banana, corn, citrus fruits

Post-harvest processing (“Beneficio”): Belcosub (Ecological Wet Processing)

Drying: in the sun

Certifications: UTZ, FLO, 4C

Score at Cup of Excellence 2015: 88.58

Farmer’s Biography:

I was born in Palestina, Huila, on July 26, 1966. My father is from the Santander department and my mother from Génova, Quindío, but from Palestina with pride. I inherited love and much of the knowledge about coffee from my parents, as well as the farm, on which I started very young to work and I bought adjacent plots until completing 8 hectares, the current extension of my farm. At the age of 18 years I met the woman of my dreams, Nubia Muñoz Campos, with whom I formed a family of three children: Diana, Óscar and Sebastián.

Winning the first place in Cup of Excellence 2013 was the result of a constant and arduous work in family that has been strengthened every day, with sacrifices and successes. Since 2005 I started my participation in the Cup of Excellence competitions, passing from not outstanding to being selected and finally winning. Likewise I was recognized in the department of Huila as a coffee-growing businessman in November 2012. But I have accompanied all this process at the farm level with a trade-union work: in two consecutive terms as a member of the Palestina municipal coffee growers committee; in the second term, I do as its president.

I regard the success achieved as a blessing from God to my work and my family’s effort. I’m sure that with this victory, better times will come for the coffee sector in Huila and especially in the south of the department.