| Fairtrade promotes investment
Max Havelaar France
 "The guarantee of the minimum price brings
stability. We, producers, are not totally subjected
to the law of supply and demand. We know that we
will be paid at least US$ 69 the quintal. This
guarantee makes it possible to plan long term,
to invest, to develop technical support, in one
word, to develop our business", explains Felipe,
a producer from El Ceibo Cooperative, a Fairtrade
Certified cocoa producer in Bolivia.
During the celebration of the Fairtrade Fortnight
in May, Felipe visited France to talk about his
experience with Fairtrade, its benefits, the daily
problems of smallholders. To consumers in France,
he became the face and the voice of millions of
producers in the South.
Felipe was born in the Andes, on the Altiplano,
3600 metres altitude, on the banks of the Titicaca
Lake. He is an Aymara, a member of an ancient Andean
people who have been living in these mountains
for thousands of years. His parents were farmers
and Felipe still smiles when he remembers the taste
of the coffee, bananas and vegetables they used
to grow. After his studies, he decided to follow
the family tradition and started to cultivate the
land. He concentrated on cocoa production and in
1985 became a member of El Ceibo Cooperative in
Alto Beni, Bolivia. El Ceibo is made up of 38 cooperatives,
which include nearly 800 families. Each producer,
who owns an average of two hectares of land, is
affiliated to one of these 38 grassroots cooperatives,
which are coordinated by the central cooperative.
El Ceibo processes and markets the cocoa and provides
technical support to the producers.
"When I became a member of the El Ceibo Cooperative,
we were still selling to the traditional circuit,
we did not know about Fairtrade. We had never heard
anything about it. The representatives of the cooperative
were the ones who found out" explains Felipe.
In 1997, El Ceibo started to sell cocoa to the
Fairtrade labelled market. In 2002, El Ceibo sold
300 tons of Fairtrade Certified cocoa, 460 tons
the following year and 420 tons in 2004. In 2002,
the Fairtrade Premium added up to US$ 50.000, in
2003 62.000 and in 2004 58.000. "Almost 50%
of the amount is invested in technical aid. The
rest is distributed for different purposes: assistance
to the families who do not have the resources to
access medical treatment after accidents, contributions
for the school's infrastructure trough grants and
donations. Every case is treated and discussed
individually" adds Felipe.
When asked about the future, Felipe says that
he wishes for a long term relationship between
El Ceibo and its Fairtrade buyers. "For us
that is not a business of two or three years, it
is long term collaboration. The idea is not to
sell only cocoa, but other products like dry fruits,
coffee. That is what we have in mind at the moment.
Our dreams go even further. We think about Fairtrade
tourism. Alto Beni is very beautiful. There is
much to see and to do" says Felipe smiling.
In Alto Beni, Fairtrade is helping smallholders
not only to survive but to plan long term, to think
about investing in new income generation activities,
which is especially important in a country like
Bolivia, which has the lowest Human Development
Index (HDI) of all South America.
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