Name:
Asociación de Productores Agroindustriales Orgánicos de El
Salvador (Salvadoran Association of Organic Agroindustrial Growers)
Country: El Salvador
Principal Product: Cashew nuts
Description: The
Asociación de Productores Agroindustriales Orgánicos de El Salvador,
APRAINORES, arose as a sustainable alternative for the entrepreneurial
initiatives offered by CORDES Foundation in the zone of the Bajo Lempa,
San Vicente, El Salvador.
The organization is duly registered
with the Ministry of the Interior as growers of organic cashew nuts,
dairy products, and sugarcane; however, for several reasons, only the
cashew line has achieved administrative and financial independence. It
is known as Aprainores – Samo, since it is the continuation of the
effort known as the Sistema Agroindustrial del Marañón Orgánico
(Agroindustrial System for Organic Cashews), which was one of the
systems that made up the Economic and Social System for the communities
of the Bajo Lempa in San Vicente.
The Association consists of 63
growers (55 men and 8 women). The production zones are on Montecristo
Island (22 growers) and on the mainland, in several districts of the
Municipality of Tecoluca, San Vicente (41 growers).
The organic
cashew enterprise initiative began after the Peace Accords were signed,
when a group of beneficiaries of the PTT program were re-settled to
Montecristo Island, which was cultivated with plantations of cashew
that had been growing for over thirty years. Initially, the nuts were
marketed unprocessed to the country’s major firms; afterwards using an
artisan process, they were able to market processed nuts.
Later,
with the support of the CORDES Foundation, they obtained financial
resources from the European Union as well as Peace and Third World in
Spain, which allowed the construction of the current plant with the
capacity to process 6500 hundredweight (approximately 300 metric tons).
The plant was inaugurated in 1997, and began its first exports with the
help of Oxfam, Great Britain in 2001.
Through 2001, the CORDES
Foundation directed their business dealings; however, starting in 2002,
the associative enterprise assumed the reins of management in their own
hands.
Achievements:
- 63 growers are ensured of a market for their production of a raw material that sells at a preferential price of $22.80 per hundredweight (cwt).
- The crop, located on approximately 250 manzanas (approximately 430 acres or 175 hectares), has organic certification from BCS in Germany.
- The cashew crop is increasing by about 20% per year.
- The growers are renewing the adult plantation with innovative techniques such as grafting (reproducing genetic material with better production characteristics and higher yield than the current ones).
- The processing plant provides an approximation between growers and financial institutions in those cases where growers are subject to credit.
- The growers receive training and technical preparation on
improving
organic cashew cultivation (preventive pest and disease control,
nutrition, etc.).
In the
agroindustrial process:
- The volumes processed have increased in regard to previous years (growing from 1,200 cwt in the first year to 4,500 cwt projected for 2005).
- Processing time in the plant has increased. Currently it is working from Monday through Saturday (with a labor force of 53 women and 30 men) in a 9-hour daily shift.
- It covers an expense budget for administrative and plant employees of $10,000 a month. These amounts increase when they are in high production season, since the workers are paid on the basis of their performance.
- FLO International certification was obtained to be able to market to alternative markets (Fairtrade).
- The export market has diversified; new clients have been identified in Europe, with buying potential, including Fairtrade buyers.
Webpage: www.aprainores.com.sv