Since 2006, ACDI/VOCA has worked with farmers in the community known as Ines Maria using farmer field schools with funding from USDA and the P.L. 480 Corporation. The results from the training and the farmers’ hard work are now bearing fruit.
The farmer field schools involve 25 to 30 farmers who receive training every two weeks on practical issues relating to their farming operations in cocoa, sugar cane, passion fruit, pineapple and coffee.
Putting the knowledge they have acquired into practice, farmers began to notice excellent results, motivating them to further develop their group work. Since May 2007, they decided to start marketing their cocoa jointly. In addition they received ACDI/VOCA training on:
- working together as a farmers' association
- constructing and using solar dryers
- following Farming as a Business (FaaB) recommendations
- implementing modern post-harvest procedures
- keeping good business records
As shown in the chart below, farmers in Ines Maria now receive a higher percentage of the "freight on board" price, meaning higher incomes, thanks to marketing by the association. They also created a community bank based on savings of a fixed value per each hundred weight unit (QQ) sold. These savings enabled them to make investments to increase the productivity of their farms.
In addition, the farmers have begun to keep accounting records and invest in inputs and tools for the farm like fertilizer, chainsaws, irrigation pipe and soil analysis using their savings.
Seeing positive results, members of the community began a series of community activities to jointly strengthen their farms through pruning, fertilization, irrigation, processing of organic products and the nursery.
With an eye to the future, the members of the Ines Maria community have another objective: to create a federation of cocoa farmers to integrate growers in eight surrounding communities in order to sell their cocoa directly to exporters. They are currently moving forward to make this goal a reality.
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