Success stories

Competitiveness Yields Social Gains

Members of the Ciudad Barrios Coffee Cooperative inspect coffee sacks.  Photo by Entrepreneurial Systems of Mesoamerica.

Ciudad Barrios Cooperative in El Salvador invests coffee revenue in the community.

The Ciudad Barrios Cooperative, located in the Cacahuatique mountain range in eastern El Salvador, was founded more than 25 years ago and boasts more than 1000 participating members.  The cooperative annually produces approximately 8.5 million pounds of various grades of coffee, all of which, until 2003, was sold as low-priced, generic coffee.
In 2003, the cooperative began receiving assistance from USAID’s Regional Quality Coffee Program (QCP).  QCP tries to enhance the ability of small and medium-sized coffee producers to participate in international quality coffee markets.  QCP’s work with Ciudad Barrios was to increase the cooperative’s business acumen and to better select, grade and process quality coffee in order to ensure higher prices for its members.

Thanks to USAID support, the Cooperative received Rainforest Alliance (RA) certification for overy 10 per cent of its total exports, making it the largest Salvadoran exporter of RA certified coffee.  The Rainforest seal indicates that the coffee growers abide by a set of environmental, workplace and social guidelines.  Through sales of certified coffee, primarily to a KRAFT Foods subsidiary, the cooperative has earned an average of fifteen cents a pound above the market price for coffee. 

This extra income has translated into new developmental investment in the community.  The cooperative’s General Assembly decided to invest a portion of these funds into the construction of a school for more than 125 children, the majority of whom are children of cooperative members and employees.  The school was recently inaugurated by El Salvador’s president. In addition, the cooperative is building a recreation center, which will be open to all Ciudad Barrios residents.

Historically, the livelihoods of small coffee farmers have been particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in coffee prices.  To address this vulnerability, the cooperative is also investing in the development of demonstration plots of papaya, citrus and vegetables in order to educate members as to the benefits of agricultural diversification.  The cooperative is also considering investments in a health clinic and an ecotourism venture.

A Time to Reap

A farmer works in a greenhouse tomato harvest in La Libertad.  Photo by Fintrac-IDEA.

Hundreds of Salvadoran farmers receive technical assistance to improve agricultural production.

Dora Rodriguez of El Refugio, Ahuachapan, had almost given up her plan to make money growing vegetables.  Because of pest infestations, Rodriguez was not able to harvest a single chili pepper.  Things were so desperate that her husband urged her to abandon farming.  However, through USAID assistance, she learned new agricultural practices, including a combination of improved seedlings, drip irrigation, protective netting, proper plant nutrition and integrated pest management techniques.  As a result of her training, Dora was able to increase annual vegetable sales to more than $28,000 on her one hectare plot.

Dora is just one of over 500 lead farmer clients and 1,500 beneficiaries in El Salvador to receive USAID-funded technical assistance and training provided by the Fintrac Corporation.  The project began after two successive earthquakes in 2001, when USAID targeted the most affected communities in order to create jobs and increase incomes.  Because El Salvador imports an estimated $110 million in fruits and vegetables annually, horticultural production support was provided to take advantage of this market.  Later, assistance was extended country-wide.

The USAID agricultural diversification and marketing project, which ends in June 2006, provides training and technical assistance in production, post-harvest handling, processing, business development, and market research to individuals and businesses in the horticulture sector.  The project helped farmers who previously produced low-value crops such as maize, beans, and lowland coffee as well as sugar cane to shift into a diversified mix of high-value vegetables in demand in local markets.  Pesticide safety is also a critical factor.  Farmers are trained in integrated pest management and participate in safety programs that teach the dangers that farm chemicals pose when improperly stored, handled and applied.

The results have been dramatic.  A recent survey of lead farmers who graduated from the program indicates average sales growth of 1,000 percent, from $2,100 to $22,300 per year.  As well, more than $18.5 million in new vegetable and fruit sales have been realized and nearly 6,700 new permanent and seasonal agricultural jobs have been created.

The project has changed the lives of many of the participating farmers.  Producer Ricardo Ulises Llovera said, “I was almost broke, but things started changing as soon as I finished the training. Now my coffee crop is secondary to my three greenhouses, where I grow tomatoes and bell peppers.  I can look forward to the future.”

Reaching Agreement through Honest Dialogue

Raul Sanchez (left) and Juana Lico de Ruiz stand at the field where they have sown plantain bananas in Ahuachapan.  Photo by Karen Azucena, USAID.

Salvadoran peasants and a socially-responsible land owner solve a dispute through USAID-supported mediation.

Until recently, a poor community of 115 families in Ahuachapan struggled to earn a living, relying on subsistence corn and bean production on land that was not their own.

The land was owned by a private company, LAGEO, which is now harnessing geothermal energy on the 15-acre site for electrical generation.  However, the community was defrauded by someone claiming to represent the landowners who charged them a fee to access the land. 

“Although, we later found out he didn’t even belong to the company or own any of the land, we had to strive to get him the money to grow our crops,” said Juana Lico de Ruiz, a leader of this community in western El Salvador.

As the geothermal plant continued its production, LAGEO officials tried in vain to evict the peasants so the company could reforest the land to safeguard needed thermal ground water for electricity production.  After failing to secure assistance in the formal justice system, the community learned that the local mayor’s office and the public defender’s office offered a mediation service to resolve disputes.

Martin Delgado, the USAID-trained coordinator of the Mediation Center in the mayor’s office, said that as soon as both parties showed interest in negotiating a solution, the mediation process started. 

Six months later the parties reached a win-win agreement.  LAGEO and the peasants agreed on growing an alternative product – plantain bananas – that would protect the land from erosion and, at the same time, generate employment for the community.  With an initial LAGEO loan of $7,000 to the community, participating members today grow plantains on the property, and receive a monthly salary with benefits and training on farming cooperative management.  The proceeds will repay the loan and the members will share in what is expected to be considerable earnings.  The agreement covers a five-year period, with an extension provision. 

“Our company’s core values include environmental conservation and integrity.  We believe that when conflicts arise, we have to look for alternatives.  The mediation service has helped us solve this conflict with the community,” said Patricia Zavaleta, coordinator of LAGEO’s Social Responsibility Department.

Mediation is a quick, confidential, free, and neutral process in which all parties involved in a conflict have the opportunity to express their ideas and feelings as they look for favorable solutions.  It is an important alternative to formal judicial proceedings, which are expensive and lengthy due to the increasing backlog in courts faced with rising crime rates. USAID has provided financial and technical support to the government of El Salvador to create a national network of 23 mediation centers and two mobile mediation offices.  To date, this service has successfully solved over 8,500 cases of family, property and community disputes.

“At the beginning I couldn’t even imagine this agreement could happen,” said Raul Sanchez, who currently works in the plantain fields.  “But when the company agreed to allow us to harvest our last corn and bean crops, from then on, we started thinking that something positive could come out of this.”

The outcome represents one of this mediation center’s greatest achievements.   “The farmers earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow.  The company officials are satisfied after obtaining what they wanted.  This shows one of the mediation precepts, win-win,” said Delgado.

Click here to read more success stories: http://www.usaid.gov/stories/archivelac.html#el