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EL CEIBO
Bolivia
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Product:
Cocoa
Number of Families:
El Ceibo is a federation of 37 producer cooperatives with about 900 members
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El Ceibo is one of the most significant examples of
Fair Trade successful projects.
Fair Trade has brought new independence and
empowerment to farmers who were shuffled from one
flawed and exploitative agricultural exporting system
to another.
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The beginnings
Alto Beni, in the north-east of Bolivia, was colonized in
the 1960's. The colonists were given small farms and
had to join a government-run cooperative.
When the government cooperative went bankrupt the cocoa farmers were left without
marketing resources and had to turn to intermediaries to transport their cocoa along the
difficult route to La Paz. In general, these farmers received unfairly low prices for their
cocoa because they lacked knowledge of market prices.
In the 1970's, many farmers began to see that this system was problematic and they
organized into cooperatives with the aim of working jointly to improve their working
conditions and increase crop diversity and productivity.
In order to maximize their marketing power, some of the cooperatives united in 1977 to
form “El Ceibo”. The cooperative was named after the ceibo tree which provides shade
to cocoa trees. Being a very resilient tree and considered immortal, it is a symbol of
strenght and unity for the farmers.
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Cocoa production
By purchasing it’s own trucks, El Ceibo succeeded early on in breaking the transport and
price monopoly maintained by the middlemen, and in marketing their cocoa
independently. But as the prices paid by the processing industry were hardly any better,
El Ceibo decided to expand its activities beyond the sale of the freshly harvested beans.
They started by setting up a collection centre and drying plant and then went on to open
their own cocoa manufacturing factory in La Paz.
El Ceibo thus became the world’s first small farmers’ cooperative to control the totality of
production chain by manufacturing - and, from 1986 onwards, exporting - cocoa
products (powder, butter, chocolate) under its own management.
El Ceibo’s produces annualy about 500 tonnes and sales are now worth over $1million a
year for export $500 000 for the domestic market. Buying two-thirds of Bolivia’s cacao
beans, El Ceibo is the countries’ biggest exporter of organic cocoa and chocolate
products.
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Fair Trade Impact
El Ceibo's Fair Trade premiums have supported agricultural improvement and
community development in many ways.
Each federated co-operative benefits from a number of special programs:
- free technical training on farming techniques, administration and management
- incentives for organic production
- access on subsidised loans
- credit for the children’s education
- fund for community projects
- safety fund for medical emergencies
El Ceibo also sponsors cultural festivals, in which each of the 37 member communities
performs the music and dance traditions they brought with them from the highlands.
The cooperative's success has been attributed in part to an exceptionally high level of
solidarity, farmer involvement, and community spirit. Work sharing and mutual help are
important, especially during the harvest season.
Organic cocoa & diversification
Today, 70% of El Ceibo cocoa is produced with the use of organic farming methods. The
bioconversion of most “campesinos” is the result of the repossession and promotion of
traditional cultivation methods. The decision to switch to organic agriculture also has a
political meaning: a form of redemption of the millenary culture.
Diversification is also promoted and the majority of farmers cultivate cocoa only on ¼ of
their land, using the rest for subsistence agriculture (beans, corn, and rice) and the
cultivation of lemons, bananas and dried fruits to be sold on the local market.
Monoculture agriculture was banned as it causes ecologic imbalances, it destroys
biodiversity and slowly transforms the land in exhausted fields.
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