Panela, after coffee, is a product that represents the livelihood of 350,000 Colombian families.
Throughout history, Colombia has been one of the countries with most internal displacements in the history of humanity. The various armed conflicts, economic downturns and drug cartels have forced hard working farmers to leave their land.
Today, the Colombian government through a nonprofit entity by the name of FEDEPANELA supports the Panelero farmers. They support the Panelero farmers with technical expertise, ways to preserve the environment when producing sugar cane & best practices when it comes to packaging and selling Panela. FEDEPANELA also helps to market Panela as the great product that it is and supports foreign exporters who bring it to countries around the world.
At Nela we believe in economic empowerment, hence we pay a premium for our locally sourced sugar cane.
This directly translates to economic growth for our Panelero Farmers and their families. The current minimum wage in Colombia is around $275 a month. Our farmers make considerably more than this, about 20-25% more than minimum wage according to [...]
Nela sources, produces and packages all of its Panela in the Quimbaya region. This means that the Panelero Farmers sell a finished product rather than a raw material. Hence, adding economic value to their work and earning a livable wage for it. In contrast, most other sugar and sweetener companies source their surgar cane from tropical countries like the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Costa Rica, Nicaragua & Colombia for cheap, and then process it and bleach it in their U.S. factories.
Our Panela comes from Quimbaya, but usually our farmers are from Nariño. They come to Quimbaya during the week and then return to their families on the weekend. Despite the proximity between both regions, the folks from Nariño have a thick accent (similar to the Ecuadorian accent) and the folks from Quimbaya have a paisa accent, typical of the coffee triangle region. It is always fun to see all the banter caused by their difference in accents.
