Progressio development worker Bernardo writes:
The rainy season has started, and we've had trouble getting to the communities to do field work.
So in the last two weeks we have been looking at ways to find and generate funds for the activities that our partner organization Solidaridad Fronteriza hopes to continue supporting in the communities.
One is to set up its own plant nursery to generate income by selling plants and seeds and reinvesting profits in the communities. This would be more sustainable than relying on donor-funded projects.
At the same time, we are supporting the marketing of the crops and products that are ready to be sold. Solidaridad Fronteriza is currently helping UNAPROBOSQUE (the union of forest producer associations) to establish agreements with companies and traders.
We've been supporting them in the negotiations and also the transportation of the products, thanks to the truck we have available in Solidaridad. So we avoided the problem we had in the past, when the farmers' associations couldn't sell their produce because they didn't have the resources to transport them from the area to the markets.
Effective marketing of the products is still a huge challenge for the associations and we need to further explore strategies and channels of marketing that deliver fair trade and benefits for the farmers.
Photo: Farmer Amparo Jimenez showing her food garden (photo © Fran Afonso/Progressio)
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