Advancing the Export of Organic Panela from Colombia

In the last couple of years, the demand and price of panela (unrefined whole cane sugar) in Colombia have gone down, deeply affecting thousands of smallholder farmers and producers. Because of this, Fedepanela, the national federation of panela producers, reached out to the Farmer-to-Farmer program to request a volunteer to carry out a market study and connect four associations of organic panela producers to potential clients in the U.S. and Europe. 

Fedepanela represents more than 270 panela associations that encompass 19.000 producers, but for this assignment they chose four organic panela producer organizations located in the department of Cundinamarca that have formed an exportation block called “Mesa de Cundinamarca”, based in Bogotá. All together they can export approximately 80 tons per month of organic panela. These organizations are Asopropanoc, Prodinalpa, Asopromieles and Panela San Isidro. 

In February 2020, Carlos Perez Vega travelled to Colombia to support these four associations. Mr. Perez Vega has over 30 years of experience consulting with and advising organic, natural and conventional farmers on all aspects of crop production, international marketing and sales. He has extensive experience in Latin America including in Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru.

During the two weeks of his assignment, the volunteer made four field visits with the aim of observing the production process and identifying additional opportunities and weaknesses. He observed farms, production plants and collection centres and concluded that there was a pressing need to implement all the recommendations made by an organic certifier so that the organizations didn’t risk losing the certification of their products. Carlos made recommendations on how this could be achieved with as little investment as possible. 

Upon the return of the field visits, the group of associations, guided by the volunteer, identified overseas markets for their products. As part of this training, Carlos shared information on opportunities to participate in organic agricultural product fairs specializing in sweeteners, as well as lists of potential customers. The volunteer recommended expanding the organic panela market by pursuing new certifications, such as Kosher. The group immediately contacted a local group offering this certification and agreed on a convenient payment by installments. 

Throughout the assignment Carlos highlighted the importance of ensuring the four associations worked together to establish their position as an exporting alliance, and left them with a working plan that included a list of short- and long-term steps to achieve their objectives of exporting panela to the U.S. and European markets in different presentations. Thanks to his support, Asopropanoc, Prodinalpa, Asopromieles and Panela San Isidro are now closer to achieving their goals.