Nelson Melo Maya

Las Acacias was founded in 1983 by Nelson Melo after he obtained a land grant from the Colombian government following an Agrarian Reform Law that sought to redistribute land to young professionals who would serve as development agents in communities. As a young college graduate in agronomy and veterinary professional, Nelson was a prime candidate. He came from Pasto, Nariño to a community that only consisted of a few houses, with no running water or electricity. Once there, he began raising cattle and goats and became an active community member. Over time, Nelson became president of the local communal board, and over his 16 year tenure, helped bring in a road, running water and electrification to the community, as well as three rural housing developments. Given his rapport with rural communities, Nelson was identified by the Agriculture Department of the Department of Cauca for a program to work with indigenous and campesino communities  to help incentivize the move away from coca cultivation to other viable alternatives in livestock and coffee. It was in the early nineties when he became involved in Alternative Development program of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. With additional support from the national and departamental governments, in 1993 he helped found the COSURCA cooperative, which became a major motor for economic development and peace building in Cauca.

It was in these years that he began planting a few coffee trees in his farm. Nelson had been familiar with coffee and cane production his whole life as his father was a coffee smallholder in Nariño. However, it wasn't until 2000, when he stepped away from his role as General Manager in the COSURCA cooperative and had a little more time on his hands that he began coffee growing in earnest. In 2001 he organized a few local coffee farmers into a collective to obtain organic certification. By 2004, the Asociación de Productores Organicos del Cauca (Organica) was fully Organic certified and was  commercializing coffee through Virmax (which eventually became Caravela Coffee). Through support from CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture) the cooperative began experimenting and promoting shade agriculture and mixing coffee with other crops for food security such as beans, plantain, yuca and corn.