Encouraging Colombian Smallholder Fruit Producers

Solanum quitoense, known as lulo in Colombia and as naranjilla in Ecuador and Panama is one of the most popular and loved fruits by Colombians. In February 2020, Isaiah Wunsch volunteered with Farmer-to-Farmer in Colombia to train and work with staff and associates from a smallholder farmer association that produces this beloved fruit. Isaiah has a B.A. in Public Policy and a M.S. in Agriculture, Food, and Resource Economics and spends five to six months out of every year working at an apple farm in Michigan and the rest of the year working as an agricultural consultant. His experience in marketing fresh produce, introducing new packing systems, creating financial models, handling customer relations, and opening new markets made him the perfect volunteer to support APRHOSEPAS. 

APRHOSEPAS is an association of 70 lulo producers, located in the El Dovio municipality of the Valle del Cauca department. They sell their produce together to big supermarket chains in the country but are in the process of increasing their production by 21 hectares and need to ensure that they are prepared to sell them. Isaiah was tasked with providing them with strategic support and help them develop a formal business plan to ensure the future sustainability of their fruit production. APRHOSEPAS is one of the associations that works with CorpoValle, one of the program’s most important partners in Colombia. CorpoValle is a non-profit, development agency that works with 54 fruit and vegetable smallholder agricultural associations in the Valle del Cauca department.

During the course of his assignment, Isaiah worked on financial capacity building and business planning. He spent the first week primarily on field visits to farms, so he could learn of the various issues facing the association and make one-on-one introductions to association members. During these meetings, Isaiah sought to glean information needed for the business plan and impart technical assistance where he had relevant information to share. The second week also had field visits but was more focused on gathering information about the association’s processing activities and collecting financials and data. 

After analyzing all the information, Isaiah concluded that the central challenge faced by APRHOSEPAS is one that is repeated throughout the developing world: a lack of market information, storage infrastructure, and sufficient volumes to entice major wholesale buyers. APRHOSEPAS members sell through a system of intermediaries and often face extreme market volatility as a result of their weak market power and lack of diversification. The business plan that Isaiah helped them develop outlines several steps that the association can take, not necessarily to eliminate the intermediaries, but to increase the market power of their members. 

For example, Isaiah recommended that they form a cooperative to market their crops under a single umbrella and that they collectively manage plantings and harvests to offer a consistent supply to big buyers. He also recommends that they negotiate their produce sales a couple of months before they are harvested, including defining the sales strategy, the logistics for delivery, and a market-pegged price; and that they develop a leadership program for emerging and current association leaders to build industry resilience, increase understanding, and reduce conflict.

“This trip taught me a lot about the recent past of Colombia, and the resilience of rural farming communities. The people of El Dovio, both those who were related to the project, and those who saw me walking to the office every morning, truly treated me like a member of their families. I feel motivated to continue working to support the smallholder farmers of the Valle del Cauca in any way that I can in the future, and sincerely hope that the time that I spent on this project was helpful to my hosts. 

Culturally, Colombia is a fantastic country for hosting Farmer-to-Farmer projects, and I found Aprhosepas to be well-organized. The people who I worked with were generally very hardworking and motivated and were not only warm and friendly but also open to learning and trying new things. Having done F2F projects in communities that were not particularly motivated to change or take ownership of their future, this one left me energized and hopeful. I plan to use the perspective that I gained during this trip to influence my own leadership role on my farm and in my community, and plan to share my experience at a local international affairs forum.”