Manduvirá Co-operative, Paraguay Founded in 1975, the Manduvira farming co-operative exists as a shining example of the tangible differences that fair trade can make in small farming communities. Located in the “Organic Valley” of Paraguay, farmers cultivate certified organic, fair trade sugarcane on an average of just five hectares each. Thanks to fair trade premiums, in 2014 the co-op opened the world’s first small-farmer owned, fair trade and organic sugar processing mill. The mill provides farmers the opportunity to exercise control over their supply chain and has created 200 more jobs for their community.
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CONACADO Co-operative, Dominican Republic “We don’t see ourselves as a supplier to Equal Exchange, we are allies.” says Basilio Almonte, head of the CONACADO technical team. Today, the co-operative’s over 9,000 members have collectively become the largest exporter of organic and fair trade cacao beans in the world. Over the years, fair trade premiums have allowed them to reinvest millions of dollars back into their community for improvements like school supplies, scholarships, and potable water, to building their own cacao processing plant, where the co-op now manufactures and exports products like cocoa powder and cacao nibs.
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ACOPAGRO, Peru Founded in 1997 with just 27 members, ACOPAGRO is now 2,000 members strong and is the leading exporter of cacao in Peru, both in quantity and quality. In 2010, the co-op began using new methods of fermentation and drying, in an effort to improve cacao quality. Since implementing these changes they’ve earned nearly an additional $200,000 in premiums, allowing reinvestment into their farms and communities. The co-op now boasts it’s own sensory analysis lab, provides training for new technicians, and has published their findings so that other farmer groups may replicate their success.
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