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Contributions from
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Monitor
Sudan: fragmented and neglected
IMF: US pushes for refom of voting rights
Good grades for German Technical Cooperation
10th Bremen Solidarity Prize
World Press Photo 2005
Wolfowitz’ difficulties at the World Bank
US administration modifies development approach
UN peacekeepers accused of corruption
Cooperative without Borders treads new paths
Afghanistan: new support and old criticism
03/2006
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[ Eco-agriculture ]
Cooperative without Borders treads new paths
Around 20% of the 31 million hectares of organically farmed land in the world is located in Latin America. However, the division of labour is organised along conventional lines. Producers from developing countries supply the raw materials, which are processed in Europe, the USA and Japan. Founded in 2003, the Cooperative without Borders, a network of currently 18 smallholder cooperatives involved in environmentally and socially sustainable agriculture, is treading new paths. The eco-cooperatives from eight developing and industrialised countries have joined forces to form to collaborate on cultivation, processing and marketing of their products.
The Cooperative without Borders does not only network smallholder operations, however. Above all, it is committed to building up and exchanging local knowledge in developing countries. Doing so is necessary to process foodstuffs. This issue was neglected by fair-trade and bio-trade activists. Even in the fair-trade business, there is “a trend towards bigger operations that can deliver large quantities of a consistent quality”, according to Manuel Amador, Chairman of the Cooperative without Borders from Costa Rica. “Small scale farms often fall by the wayside.” His cooperative wants to show that small-scale farms can supply products that meet international standards and satisfy the different tastes of different cultures. Also, foods processed in developing countries would not be more expensive for the consumers in rich countries than the products they currently buy. Higher import tariffs on processed goods would be balanced by lower processing costs in the country of origin.
All 18 members of the Cooperative without Borders produce organic food for the local market. “We want to utilise the experiences gained from the local market for the export market – and vice versa,“ says Amador. Therefore, in 2004, five Costa Rican cooperatives founded the marketing company “Oro Verde” (green gold). They are engaged in processing and marketing products locally as well as in import and export without costly middleman.
Building up the local market is also of key concern in Brazil. Centro Ecologico coordinates 150 local organic farmers’ markets in southern Brazil and is member of the international network. Fruit, vegetables and chicken are sold at the markets, and also jam, sweets, mixed fruit juices and espresso. The coffee is already available in Italy and one may soon be able to buy it in Nicaragua or Argentina, too. It is important to all involved that consumers in Peru, Brazil and Mexico are also entitled to high-quality food.
The Italian cooperative CONAPI, for example, trains Argentinian, Guatemalan and Mexican apiarists in production methods for creamed honey, which people in their home countries like to eat although it is hardly ever manufactured there. At the same time, CONAPI markets organic spaghetti and pesto in Costa Rica. Brazilian cooperative Ecocitrus supplies Italy and Germany with mandarin concentrate for mixed fruit juice and, along with their colleagues from APPTA, gives advice on biological methods to combat a banana disease.
The only product consumers in Germany will be able to buy from members of the Cooperative without Borders in the near future is fruit juice. In Italy, on the other hand, CONAPI already stocks fair trade initiatives and the large supermarket chain COOP with products including honey, chocolate-coated macadamia nuts, cocoa powder and small packs of raw sugar, manufactured and packed in Costa Rica.
Bettina Lutterbeck
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