Every bean has its black

General

Unsustainable food crop production causes land degradation, environmental risks and low income and poor living standards for farmers in Guatemala. International markets demand high CSR standards that require investments at the farmer level. Investments that farmers cannot afford to make.To overcome these problems in the productive sector for vegetables, especially string beans, green peas and Brussels cols, the partners in this project wish to use the FDOV-programme to lift the whole value chain to a sustainable level, meaning increasing the number of sustainable farmers, increasing the productivity per hectare and increasing the number of hectares that are used for sustainable farming. The market for sustainable vegetables in the US and Europe is growing. Guatemala acknowledges the need for more sustainable production. Grupo Ceis in Guatemala and Fair Fruit in Belgium belong to Durabilis, a Belgium Impact Investment Company. Durabilis invests and manages agribusiness value chains to stimulate sustainable development in South America and Africa. The companies work as intermediaries between producer and market: Grupo Ceis buys the products in Guatemala from the farmers, and Fair Fruit is the importer and distributor in Europe. They work with low margins, so producers receive better prices.The project, however, will focus not only on the contracted farmers for supply to Grupo Ceis and Fair Fruit but will also increase awareness about sustainable production amongst the bigger exporters in Guatemala and customers in Europe. Therefore, the three NGOs in the consortium will support the project with technical assistance to increase the quality and quantity of the targeted vegetables and educate the value chain.

Objectives

A sustainable impact and inclusive economic growth for Guatemalan small-scale vegetable growers in the Guatemalan highlands in which rural communities increase their access to income sources.