Since April 2009, Zensho has been conducting fair trade coffee with a producers' cooperative in Chiapas, a state in southern Mexico.

Chiapas is home to many people of mixed European and indigenous descent, known as mestizos, and farmers called ^ejidos who settled in the mountainous regions as a result of land redistribution through land reform. The state has low income levels and is said to be one of the poorest states in Mexico. The farmers in the producer cooperative that Zensho works with cultivate coffee using environmentally friendly organic farming ^methods on the naturally rich slopes of mountains at altitudes of 1,000m to 1,800m, adjacent to the El Triunfo Nature Reserve.

*Ejido... A Mexican land ownership system established in 1917. It also refers to landless farmers who are permitted to use state-owned land under this system.
*Environmentally friendly organic farming: Sustainable agriculture that takes into consideration the reduction of environmental impact caused by the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc.

Zensho supports sustainable, environmentally friendly organic farming by continuously purchasing this organically grown coffee. This increases the added value of the agricultural products cultivated by farmers, leading to improved and stable incomes.

Furthermore, Zensho has utilized social development costs generated from fair trade to implement projects such as poultry farming in the region.

In recent years, the region has faced pressing issues such as declining coffee production due to climate change and labor shortages caused by young people migrating to urban areas. Therefore, Zensho has constructed an agricultural training center with the aim of encouraging more young people to take up farming and ensuring that coffee cultivation is passed on to the next generation. They are supporting the implementation of agricultural training programs for younger generations.

Furthermore, producers had difficulty accessing medical facilities because they had to travel for more than three hours along unpaved mountain roads to get from the mountainous areas where they lived to urban areas. In response to requests from producers, Zensho distributed medicine boxes to each household. Currently, this service is available to all 265 households in 30 settlements.

Zensho will continue to regularly visit coffee-producing regions to foster trusting relationships with producers. Furthermore, by consistently purchasing coffee at fair prices, we will support the economic independence of producers.