Colombia Cardamom Project. Part I.

Cardamom  is becoming one of the most relevant sources of income for many farmers in Colombia, who are trying to come up with solutions to the declining prices of coffee and the lack of a sustainable agricultural industry in our country.

Who better than the farmers/producers themselves to share their experiences from within.

Below you can find a transcript from the conversation between Antonio Saenz, a Colombian Cardamom producer and Jaime  Munera. an Empresario and exporter of Cardamom to the United States. whom along with Alonso Munera is championing the resurgence of the cultivation of cardamom in Antioquia.

Jaime:

We're here with Mr Antonio Saenz. he has a small farm in the municiple of Valparaiso , located at 1500 mts over the sea level, he has been a coffee grower from a long time, for how long would you say Mr. Antonio.

Antonio:

You could say my entire life. my father brought me to work in the coffee plantations since I was a kid, he thought me everything I know about the business.

Jaime:

how's that worked for you so far. 

Antonio:

well, it's been more of a resignation, once It came the harvest all I did was pay back my debts to the bank and once again I found myself in the same situation, without any money, and going back to the bank to ask for more money for the next crop.

Jaime:

All your hard earned money went straight to the bank

Antonio:

A vicious circle of debt you may say. and I couldn't get out of it cause the bank already owned my coffee production, so I was obliged to harvest the crop. 

Jaime:

Who suggested you to start planting cardamom.

Antonio:

An association called cultivares, a woman, Dr. Tamayo came to town and organized a series of meetings where they introduced cardamom to us. I liked the plant, I thought it was interesting but it took me a while to start planting it due to the lack of recognition, which made it a challenge to find a market for it.

Jaime:

You're right, getting into something completely different

Antonio:

Yeah, something I didn't know very well at the time, I was afraid to make the change from coffee to cardamom.

Jaime:

So, You started to grow cardamom around 2004, 2005?

Antonio:

2005, I took me about three years to finally decide I was going to start growing cardamom.

Jaime:

The cardamom plant starts producing around two and a half to three years. how many plants in production you have right now.

Antonio:

At the moment I have around six hundred and fifty plants.

Jaime:

What is the average of crop per each plant, let's say, on a yearly basis 

Antonio:

Well, in the year 2009, with six hundred and fifty producing plants I got around 5.300 kilos a year. divided into six harvests

Jaime:

That's impressive, that's an average of 900 kilos per harvest. and what was your selling price 

Antonio:

It was relative. prices oscillate, but It has never come down from the price in which I started selling. I remember it was around 1800 pesos per kilo, and from then it started going up to the point we're selling at today. 

Jaime:

Which is

Antonio:

Around 4.700 pesos 

Jaime:

Of course that is because you have really outstanding quality. so, on average, you sold your 5,300 kilos at 3,500 pesos. giving you a profit around 20 million pesos.

Antonio:

That is correct

Part II Coming Next Week.

In Part II of this series, we're going to delve deeper on the cardamom growing practices and also, we'll continue to learn from a cardamom grower such as Mr. Antonio Saenz himself.

Conversation Recorded on January 2010. (prices don't reflect actual market status)