COINACAPA

Marketing nuts through Liberat!on, a company co-owned by marginalized nut producers in Latin America and beyond

Coinacapa

Start: 1998

Field of action: Bolivia

Members: 320 nut producers in the region of the Bolivian Amazon

COINACAPA is a co-operative of nut gatherers in the Bolivian Amazon, that was created to improve its members’ access to the (local and external) market.

COINACAPA transports the Amazonian nuts to the plant processor, coordinates the export and is responsible for the marketing.

Context

The regions of Pando (Bolivia), Madre de Dios (Peru) and Acre (Brazil) have suffered forest degradation and substantial deforestation following the fall in the rubber market, the main economic activity for the region. Many areas of Brazil are indeed clear-cutting the forest to create areas suitable for either grazing cattle or growing products like soya. In addition, cashew nut producers in El Salvador are often former guerrillas from the 80s civil war who are now cultivating the earth given to them in the context of the peace process. The harvesting of cashew nuts and their marketing through the fair trade market channel offer a way to improve the standards of living of all these Latin American communities.

Go nuts!

The objective of the project supported by the Fair Trade Centre is simple: to increase the access to and the influence of the marginalized nut producers in the European and American fair trade markets.

Liberat!on was launched in 2006, differs from the conventional trading companies in that 33% of the capital of the Liberat!on is in the hands of the nut producers themselves. They participate in Liberat!on via the International Cooperative of Nut Producers (CIP), a newly-established co-operative that groups together marginalized nut producers from Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Through their participation in Liberat!on, nut producers will be involved in the decision-making process of the company and will be assured market access, market information and access to loans. In sum, the ENC is a company governed by and benefiting marginalized nut producers.

To date, the CIP is made up nut producer groups from Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, El Salvador, Nicaragua, India, Malawi and Mozambique, that is, a total of 2,100 producing members in Latin America and 16,000 nut producers in Asia/Africa. It is expected that other producer groups will join the CIP soon.

The Fair Trade Centre supports the Latin-American part of the constitution and implementation of the CIP. The African and Asian parts are financed by Comic Relief.

Equal Exchange and Twin coordinate the international project that is inspired by earlier successes run by these two UK-based organizations, that is, Café Direct and Divine Chocolate.

"It's because of the arrival of agriculture. We call it the 'agricultural frontier', which goes along with cattle ranching. First, they exploit the valuable wood, and then the cattle ranchers come and turn it into pasture.”  (Dr Rafael Salomao, of Museu Goeldi, research centre of the Amazon).