Alto Beni, Yungas, Bolivia

1. Best Practice Marketing for Communities in Mountainous and/or Drug –Crop Producing Regions Alto Beni, Yungas, Bolivia Chiang-Mai, Thailand, November 24-25, 2005

2. Bolivia A country of statistical extremes, landlocked Bolivia is the highest and most isolated country in South America. It has the largest percentage of indigenous people, who make up around two-thirds of the population, and is the world's largest producer of tin.

3. Facts • Population: 9.1 million (UN, 2005) • Capital: Sucre (official), La Paz (administrative) • Area: 1.1 million sq km (424,164 sq miles) • Major languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, Guarani • Major religion: Christianity • Life expectancy: 62 years (men), 66 years (women) (UN) • Main exports: Soybeans, natural gas, zinc, gold, silver, lead, tin, antimony, wood, sugar • GNI per capita: US$960 (World Bank, 2005).

4. Illicit Crop Production in Bolivia The Law 1008 defines three areas of production: Traditional, located mainly in Yungas of La Paz; Transitional with “excess” coca production, covering virtually all coca plantations in the Cochabamba Tropics (known as the Chapare) and a few areas of recent colonization in La Paz; and Illegal, covering the rest of the national territory. • The coca crops in the Chapare are declared to be in transition and are subject to eradication and alternative development. Law 1008authorizes coca plantations in Yungas of La Paz of up to 12,000 hectares for the purposes of “acullicu” (chewing of coca leaves) and other traditional uses.

5. The Yungas:Traditional Coca Production Area • The Yungas is the largest coca growing area in Bolivia • Topography: mountain ranges transversed by one small road. • Climate: Subtropical moist broadleaf forest. • Long history of traditional coca cultivation. • Colonization started in 1953 after the agrarian reform and therefore each community in the project has a different background.

6. ALTO BENI:Overview • Geographic location: • Department of La Paz • 270 km from the city of La Paz • Provinces: Caranavi, Sud Yungas, Larecaja • Climatic conditions: • Average temperature: 25°C • Average Rainfall per year: 1.800 mm • Average Humidity: 70-80% • Altitude: 450 to 2.500 masl. • Difficult access: • Only one road exists in and out of the region: the Yungas Road, also known as the “Deathline” Originally known as "The Grove's Road", named after the U.S. company that built it in the early seventies, this lifeline--some say it's more of a 'deathline'--to the tropical lowlands is reputed by many world travelers to be the most terrifying drive in the world. 

7. ALTO BENI:History Colonized in the 1960’s. The colonists had small farms and belonged to a government-run cooperative. With the cooperative’s bankruptcy, the farmers were left without marketing resources and had to turn to intermediaries to transport their products along the difficult route to La Paz. In general, these farmers received unfairly low prices for their products because they lacked knowledge of market prices and intermediaries often paid very low prices.

8. The goal of CICAD/OAS’ projects in the Alto Beni since they started in 2001, is to dissuade farmers in the region from engaging in illicit coca growing by promoting legitimate income-generating activities and creating infrastructure.

9. Cacao Project “Modernization of the Organic Cacao Industry in Alto Beni, Bolivia”

10. El Ceibo • In the 1970’s, many farmers began to see that the government-run associative system was problematic and created their own cooperatives. • In order to maximize their marketing power, some of the cooperatives united in 1977 to form El Ceibo. This new cooperative joined the Fair Trade system in 1997. • Today El Ceibo includes around 37 smaller cooperatives. The goals of El Ceibo are to improve the living conditions of the members and increase crop diversity and productivity.

11. El Ceibo (cont.) • A federation of 37 cocoa producing cooperatives in the Alto Beni region. • It is one of the strongest and most successful economic organizations in Bolivia. • It also stands as one of the most successful cases of small farmer organization around technology generation, product transformation and marketing in the Andes. • El Ceibo has been able to open new markets for its products, adapt product transformation techniques to these markets and develop technology in support of its marketing strategy.

12. Training

13. Production practice and strategy Small producers, with an average cultivated surface of less than one hectare, group together to work their land communally. This allows them to cut production and transport costs and gives them strength to stand up to local middlemen, often referred to as “coyotes”.

14. Production practice and strategy Producers establish a fair buying price based on 2 main criteria: 1. Fair remuneration for the producers; 2. A price that allows them enough profit to be able to invest in their organization and in communal projects such as schools, bridges, hospitals, drinking wells, etc. These in turn contribute to the region’s sustainable development.

15. Production practice and strategy • Because of the need for daily cash, many of the farmers have been diversifying their production with crops such as coffee, citric fruits, bananas and dried fruits. • First cooperative to convert to organic production, gain organic certification and process its own cocoa. • The cooperative has developed its processing so well that the farmers are already exporting their own cocoa butter and cocoa liquor and selling their own chocolate domestically. • Many members work in both the agricultural and processing sectors, giving farmers extra opportunities to develop skills that will help them remain competitive in the market.

16. Banana Project “Rehabilitation and Modernization of Organic Banana Production in Bolivia for the Export Market”

17. Bana Beni SRL. Established in 2003. This farmer-formed company handles marketing of all the fruit produced by the Project and has its office in El Alto. But at the beginning nothing was easy... More than 450 Small Producers Associated

18. Working Practice and Social Impact of Bana Beni • Hired an outside General Manager, plus 6 staff members from the ranks of the producers, for positions in management, administration, accounting and banana produce ripening and storage. • Obtained the Organic Production Methods Certificate by Skal International, a recognized international certifier of organic products. • Farmers are paid for the banana production a higher price (67% family labour) than the current market price, which is democratically fixed by a committee. Therefore, farmers are expected to pay above average wages to their workers.

19. Increase in Income with Bana Beni Direct Impact: 73% increase in income per capita, per year, for beneficiaries Indirect Impact: 38.5% increase in income per capita, per year, for non-beneficiaries

20. COMPARISON BETWEEN BANANA PROJECTS

21. Future Opportunities for Bana Beni • Expansion to other markets • Regional: Argentina and Chile • International: Germany and Japan • Opportunity to join international trade organizations such as the Fair Trade International Organization in Europe (With the FLO certificate) and the Transfair Organization in the United States. • High possibility of entering the agro-industry with other products made from the organic bananas such as plantain chips, dried bananas and banana flour cookies.

22. CONCLUSIONS •  The projects have assembled farmers around a common development and business-oriented agenda. • One of the notable outcomes has been the increased confidence in international agency-sponsored development activities. This is an important achievement, since prior to the project’s implementation farmers living in Bolivia were skeptical of activities that promised direct assistance since they often failed to deliver. • The main benefits of the projects are felt in the communities in the zones with highest propensity to produce coca.