“I see mindset shifts being promoted by CDAIS says Gemechu Nemie, director of the Ethiopian Animal Feed Industry Association (EAFIA) and a key member of the livestock feed safety and quality innovation niche. And this is the sort of change that the CDAIS project is beginning to engender, as partners start to implement approaches that better promote innovation in agriculture, by inspiring small and simple personal revolutions… Ethiopia is one of eight CDAIS pilot countries, and within each, several ‘niches’ or ‘innovation partnerships’ have been selected.
For many years, rural women have been creating their own agri-food processing companies, that promote local agriculture by bringing to the market original foods in products that are accessible to urban populations. The aim of CDAIS is to support their development by strengthening their capacities to experiment and learn together, as well as to negotiate and make contracts with suppliers and traders. And Dakoupa in Bobo Dioulasso is one of many small family businesses supported by CDAIS through the women-led agri-food processing microenterprise innovation partnership.
El presente documento sistematiza la experiencia de cuatro instituciones promotoras del desarrollo rural en el Perú, específicamente en lo que se refiere a casos exitosos de intervención para el fortalecimiento de la asociatividad empresarial rural y la promoción de cadenas de valor.
“The empowerment of our organization was important, to realise our potential to access to finance, markets and to make bean cultivation more productive” expresses Moises Acosta, vice-president of the Honduran Seed Producers Network, “and the bean value chain is now being strengthened and made more sustainable.” He is one of the producers who CDAIS and partners work with in Olancho department, with results that are now being replicated across the country.
“Es importante el empoderamiento de la organización, conocer nuestro potencial para acceder a financiamientos y al mercado y lograr que el cultivo de frijol sea productivo.” expresa Moisés Acosta, vicepresidente de la Red de Productores Artesanales de Semilla de Honduras (Red Pash). “La cadena está siendo fortalecida para su sostenibilidad y relevo generacional”. Él es uno de los productores con los que CDAIS y sus socios trabajan en el departamento de Olancho, Honduras, con resultados que ahora se replican a nivel nacional.
“CDAIS does not give us money, but it opens spaces for cacao producers, associations and industry to work together” says Sergio Segovia, president of the ASOPROCCAN association. Actors in the cocoa chain of Atlántida on the north coast are, thanks to CDAIS, now achieving quality standards and promoting entrepreneurship. This was the vision of this innovation partnership, to focus actions on fulfilling their dream of strengthening their organizations and applying good agricultural practices in cocoa cultivation.
“CDAIS no nos da dinero, pero abre espacios para tener contactos importantes para el desarrollo de los productores de las asociaciones y del rubro”, dice Segovia que también se propone gestionar proyectos para mujeres, un museo de chocolate, una tienda de productos de cacao y cursos de catación para cacao súper fino. Y comoBernarda Moya, una productora de cacao en Balfate, La Ceiba explica, “Las relaciones con CDAIS nos ayuda a ser creativos y beneficiarnos todos.”
“We first needed to know who we are, what we offer, and how to offer it,” says coffee farmer Denis Cortez. “We in the partnership organized ourselves, and now all get involved in working for the common good. We are more aware of the impacts of what we do, how to improve quality, and apply on our farms what we learn such as new processing methods.” He is one of thousands of producers that CDAIS and its partners are working with in western Honduras, with clear results.
“Primero necesitamos conocernos para saber quiénes somos, qué es lo que ofrecemos y cómo ofrecerlo” dice Denis Cortez productor de café. Somos más conscientes del impacto de lo que hacemos, aplicamos en nuestras fincas lo que aprendemos como nuevos métodos de procesamiento para potenciar la calidad.” Él es uno de los miles de productores con los que el CDAIS y las organizaciones colaboradoras trabajan en el Occidente de Honduras, con resultados contundentes.
“The CDAIS project brings an innovative methodology because it creates capacities in us as human beings” explains Carlos Valladares of the Intibucá Farmers Network. “This has improved our understanding of our situation, we have taken full responsibility for it, and are now better able to obtain and manage information to improve producer organizations”. Associations in the region have appreciated the spaces created by CDAIS that allow them to link with other stakeholders, find solutions to common problems, and now, to even take issues to the national policy level.