News

June 2011 : Ecuador Update
ACDI/VOCA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Peace Corps to strengthen collaboration.

ACDI/VOCA is working with private sector partners and the Government of Ecuador to explore opportunities to continue assisting farmers in Guayas and Los Rios provinces.

December 2010 : Ecuador Update
Nestle: The Cocoa Plan in Ecuador

July 2010: Ecuador Update
ACDI/VOCA Chief of Party Uriel Buitrago participated in a farmer field school (FFS) forum organized by Ecuador’s Ministry of Agriculture on July 5. Participants shared FFS experiences and presented the model to 280 young agronomists. The agronomists are developing a government program called Agrarian Revolution Schools, which will provide technical assistance to Ecuadorian farmers and associations.

With the support of ACDI/VOCA, the canton Baba municipal government provided a set of tools to associations from El Guayabo and Patria Nueva in Los Rios province.

In Guayas, leaders of eight communities participating in associative marketing met with a ministry of agriculture officer, who discussed procedures for forming a federation.

In Manabí province, ACDI/VOCA met with farmers of the Corporation San Placido to help structure the management and marketing of a cocoa-buying center.

June 2010: Ecuador Update
With the start of two new cocoa export companies' operations, options for farmers to sell their product have increased in Ecuador. ACDI/VOCA has been working to inform these new companies, Armajaro and Ristock Cacao, about our partner associations. ACDI/VOCA's technical team has conducted several field visits to show company representatives the work being done, especially in certain areas of Los Rios, Guayas and Manabí.

March 2010: Ecuador Update
On March 13th, a marketing meeting attended by community by leaders from La Industria, La Pradera, Las Mercedes, Potosí and San Eleuterio was held at La Pradera, Los Rios. The meeting defined procedures and addressed challenges relating to associative commercialization and promoted the formation of a second level organization to farmers.

January 2010: Ecuador Update
On January 29, in Naranjito, Guayas, farmer leaders, guided by project technicians, carried out a “Presentation of Results 2009” with the participation of 8 Associations, 230 farmers, ACDI/VOCA staff, and special guests, including Vice Prefectura of Guayas Cesar Cabezas, Guayas Provincial Government official Carlos Andrade, Armajaro's Pascal Bouvery, and Nestlé's Franck Blacio.

September 2009: Ecuador Update
ACDI/VOCA technicians and facilitators focused on motivating farmers to improve on-farm productivity, strengthen farmer organizations, promote associative marketing, and promote service provision at the small business and farmer organization level.

Nicola Mastrocola, PL 480 Corporation field supervisor, visited the ACDI/VOCA-Guayaquil office on July 15 to receive a full report on the work that is currently being carried out. He expressed his satisfaction with the many positive results.

Representatives of Armajaro visited several cocoa farmer associations in Los Rios province. They praised SUCCESS Alliance's work with smallholder farmer associations as one of the best ways to mitigate value chain constraints at that level.

The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) is supporting a nursery management and cocoa propagation project in Ecuador under SUCCESS Alliance. Associations and farmers will be trained in proper management of tree nurseries and clonal gardens to provide the Ecuadorian cocoa sector with an enhanced capacity to increase commercial and local availability of cocoa materials.

July 2009: Ecuador Update
On June 1, officials from SUCCESS Alliance-Ecuador and the PL 480 Corporation-USDA Food Aid program signed a 14-month project extension for “Strengthening the Cocoa Value Chain in Ecuador.” The project builds on successes in areas partnered with under the SUCCESS Alliance’s earlier projects in Ecuador.

Thanks to the new funding, SUCCESS Alliance technicians and facilitators are now visiting farmers, groups, associations and communities. Their work focuses on motivating farmers to improve on-farm productivity, strengthen farmer organizations, promote associative marketing, and promote service provision at the small business and farmer organization level.

March 2009: Ecuador Update
From 2008–09, 70 new farmer associations were formed, 65 of them have legal status and 5 are working on it. These are young organizations that need technical assistance and guidance for at least two more years. Pedro Gomez, Association Training Assistant, trained 15 farmers in the “Asociacion 11 de Marzo” on basic accounting in Montalvo, southern Los Rios province, in order to strengthen their business practices.

February 2009: Ecuador Update
On November 24, two journalists from Guayaquil’s Expreso weekly magazine and Chloe Doutré Roussel, considered to be one of the most famous chocolate tasters in the world, visited ACDI/VOCA’s farmers in the Naranjito, Guayas area. They visited farmers in San Enrique and learned how the marquesina (solar dryer) works. Expreso magazine published a four-page article that detailed the visit and the activities that farmers working with ACDI/VOCA are doing.

January 2008: Ecuador Completes Fifth Cycle
The project completed its fifth and last cycle of Farmer Field Schools in December. With the completion of this cycle, SUCCESS Alliance has trained 21,710 smallholder cocoa farmers, exceeding the project goal of 21,000.

July 2007: Ecuador Update
Farmer field school trainers facilitated a training in the indigenous language of Chapalache making it possible to reach an additional 200 farmers in the province of Esmeraldas. Half of the participants were females who traditionally only speak the local language. One project beneficiary commented, “It is the first time in our history that a project has trained us in our own language. This allows women to get involved and be trained too."

June 2007: Cocoa Expo-Fairs in Ecuador
Three cocoa expo-fairs were organized in Buena Fe, Quininde and Naranjito between May and June by the SUCCESS Alliance project and were attended by 1,672 farmers total. These events, which generate high expectations from farmers and the general public, promote relationships among farmers and with cocoa-related companies and institutions.

April 2007: Service Production Center in Ecuador
In Manabi Province, the SUCCESS Alliance is working with Manabí's Development Agency to implement the construction of a "Service Production Center," which will build a multiple-use infrastructure to hold a buying center, tool store, market/food store, pharmacy and classroom. This idea took form after including the active participation of smallholder members, including a $10.00 (cash or cocoa beans equivalent) entry fee to capitalize the center.

January 23, 2007: Fourth Farmer Field School Cycle Commences in Ecuador
On January 23, 2007, SUCCESS Alliance Ecuador's fourth farmer field school (FFS) cycle got underway projecting a total of 4,600 smallholder cocoa farmer participants in the four provinces of the project, Guayas, Los Rios, Manabi and Esmeraldas. Upon completion of this fourth FFS cycle in June 2007, this SUCCESS Alliance project will have trained a total of 18,589 cocoa farmers.

Number of Farmer Participating in the Cocoa Fairs

The fairs are organized with farmers and local authorities who agree to provide appropriate facilities to allow large numbers of people to gather together, and they last from morning until early afternoon. The farmers are given turns to talk about their experiences and many farmer field schools put together their own stands showing cocoa products they manufacture—such as foods and liquors—or even demonstrate their knowledge. The fairs include contests such as the best cocoa pod which is judged by local experts. They also elect a cocoa queen who is wearing the most creative cocoa outfit and provides the best answer to questions related to cocoa farming.