COOPEASSA, Cooperativa Agroindustrial y de Servicios Múltiples de San Antonio Pérez Zeledón RL

Promoting organic agriculture in southern Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Cooperativa Agroindustrial y de Servicios Múltiples de San Antonio Pérez Zeledón RL (COOPEASSA) is a Costa Rican cooperative that represents more than 250 small coffee, banana and pineapple producers. It disburses loans to members and gives them technical advice about best agricultural practices.

COOPEASSA was founded in 1984 in the canton of Pérez Zeledón, in the southern part of Costa Rica, to support farmers in the region.

The cooperative’s core activity is coffee processing and marketing. COOPEASSA actively promotes organic agriculture and is pursuing Fairtrade certification. In addition to coffee, the cooperative is starting to process organic pineapples for export purposes. Finally, COOPEASSA plays an important role in the local community: it creates job opportunities, promotes crop diversification and raises awareness about the environment. The cooperative is involved in a number of social initiatives.

Cooperativa Agroindustrial y de Servicios Múltiples de San Antonio Pérez Zeledón RL has been an Oikocredit partner since 2016.