Diversification

Small farmers and their organizations are usually vulnerable to the fluctuations of local and international prices of commodities. Therefore, by diversifying income, the producer and their organizations lower their risk and reduce dependancy on one crop.

Objective

Diversify agricultural production to generate more income for the producers and their organisations and to decrease dependancy to a single-product agricultural system.

Projects

In the past years, we have worked with the producer organizations in a large number of projects. Some examples of diversification initiatives include:

Honey production
Organization: Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (OCFCU), Ethiopia
Description: Technical assistance (training and infrastructure) to improve the production and quality of honey to sell on the local and international market.

Production and export of fresh products
Organization: Asociación Aldea Global Jinotega, Nicaragua
Description: Technical assistance and training for the production and handling post-harvests of roots and tubers, principally malanga and quequisque, intended to the export market.

Hydroelectric Plant
Organization: Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Pangoa, Perú
Description: Financing of the second generating machine to generate electricity.

Banana chips
Organization: FAPECAFES, Ecuador
Description: Technical assistance and infrastructure to produce and export banana chips.

Sustainable Management of Raw Sugar Cane processing
Organization: Programa Integral Para el Desarrollo del Café (PIDECAFÉ), Peru
Description: Technical assistance for the production and processing of granulated brown sugar, as well as training for organizational and management development.

Reforestation
Organization: CEPROAP, Peru
Description: Together with the volunteers from the French Association for Progress, CEPROAP, works on a forest development project.

Preparation and use of effective microorganisms (EM) in the preparation of organic liquid and solid fermented fertilizers
Organizations: Several in Central and South America
Description: With the assistance of Progreso Program, a workshop is being held to improve soil fertility and increase crop productivity through the Efficient Microorganisms (EM) technology.

Organic cocoa cultivation using agro forestry systems and the environmental recovery of the watersheds from Sisa Valley and Cerro Escalera in the Blue Mountain range, Peru.
Organization: CAC. Oro Verde Ltda, Peru
Description: Promote farming organic cocoa, granulated brown sugar and the recovery of the watersheds from Sisa Valley. The project aims to have 240 certified producers of organic cocoa, granulated brown sugar and timber.