CAMARIAssuring Quality, Health and Safety in the Production of Organic Granulated Brown SugarCamari Start: 1981 Field of action: Ecuador Camari was created as a complement to the action of the Popular Ecuadorian Progress Fund (FEPP), a private association supported by the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference, that since 1970 has been working with small Ecuadorian producers to promote their integrated development. In January 1981, FEPP launched a production and marketing project of crafts and, in October of the same year, opened a store in the Santa Clara district to the north of Quito with the name of Camari, Quichua for “gift”. Today, Camari is a national system of solidarity marketing, based on fair trade principles. It is active in 18 of the 22 provinces of the country. It works with craftsmen and farmers from 18 of the 22 provinces that make up this country. This employment allows small farmers or “campesinos” to remain in their communities rather than migrate to the towns to find work. Camari unites the workers, ensures that they receive a stable and fair wage, and allows them to preserve their tradition of working the earth while preserving the indigenous cultures thanks to the fabrication of traditional crafts.[1] Camari created centres in various Ecuadorian provinces to promote the integration of the producer networks, to provide technical support with a view to improving the quality of the products and to increase the efficiency in commercial management. Camari exports to Japan, the USA and Europe. Its activities benefit about 6,500 families or small producers. Context The project supported by the Fair Trade Centre aims at improving the quality of Ecuadorian panela, which does not enjoy a strong competitive position on the international market. Farmers still produce panela using traditional methods (blocks or tied) that are difficult to use. Some producers have begun to develop granulated panela “panela granulada”, but the quality still varies too greatly severely limiting the marketing conditions of panela in the national and international markets. ¿Qué? Panela is an unbleached and unrefined sweetener made from sugar cane. It is available in brick or cake form and is usually gold or brown in colour. To the untrained eye it may appear as though it is only brown sugar, yet because panela is unprocessed it contains more minerals than refined sugar (brown or bleached). Panela is used in candy and as a sweetener for hot or cold beverages. Support from the Fair Trade Centre The project aims at ensuring a consistent quality of granulated panela. The project is to be implemented in two phases. First, a quality control system will be developed, based on the experience of other similar initiatives in Ecuador and Colombia, to satisfy the UPB quality standards. Every producing unit will have people trained to monitor the quality of the product. In the second year of the project, the quality control system will be further developed to guarantee that the panela is produced according to the requirements of the HACCP (quality and hygiene system).. The integration of HACCP standards into the production units will enable the producers to export organic granulated panela to the European market. It is expected that the improved quality will at least double the present sales of panela in Europe. The project benefits 160 producer families, located in the rural areas of the Western Andes.
[1] Source : Ten Thousand Villages | 
