The key objective of the agricultural partnership project, which has been under way since 1996, is to improve the quality of life of the land workers.

In this agricultural partnership, the land worker provides the labor and tools and receives, as payment, 40% of the production of coffee. This means an income of roughly 2.5 times the average amount earned by a land worker laboring under similar conditions as an employee.

Relevant aspects of the partnership system:

- Increased land worker earnings.

- Within a pre-established service and technical guidance program, the partner land worker has more flexibility and freedom for carrying out the required tasks.

- Thanks to having a stake in the output of the production process, the partner land worker becomes much more interested and proactive, which leads to improved levels of efficiency and greater dedication to work;

- Because he is entitled to some of the production, the partner land worker is also involved with the risks of production, such as, for instance, crop losses due to bad weather. Thus, he learns to plan his life better, as his earnings are annual rather than monthly.

As a result, what we see is that the land worker becomes more participative within the community, given that he is more of “his own boss”; he therefore feels he has greater value and that he commands more respect.