You are in: surefish > news > Nicaragua
Date: 18 August, 2005

A worker at the Achuapa model farm. The farm was setup by a local cooperative and pays its workers a fair wage. Photo: Christian Aid / Brenda Hayward
'Co-op members worked hard to plant and harvest their sesame, as well as pressing the seeds by hand. But they could not keep up with demand. In a unique experiment, business and charity came together.'

'I believe that fair trade is when all of us in the chain act in a transparent manner… When there is a trusting relationship between all the players.'

So says Juan Bravo Reyes, manager of the Juan Francisco Paz Silva Co-operative in Nicaragua. Having started off as a fair trade business, the Co-operative is now a clear example of trade justice in action.

In 1990, a cooperative of Nicaraguan sesame oil producers established a regular market in the UK with the Body Shop. The Body Shop granted the Co-op a fair price for its sesame oil and offered consumers a fair price for their cosmetics.

Co-op members worked hard to plant and harvest their sesame, as well as pressing the seeds by hand. But they could not keep up with demand. In a unique experiment, business and charity came together.

Christian Aid granted the Juan Francisco Paz Silva Co-operative £8,000 so they could buy a mechanical sesame press. The Co-op increased production of sesame oil from 12 to 72 tonnes a year, an astonishing six-fold increase.

As a result the Co-op acquired more members and a loyalty that could not be beaten. Luis Angel Arrostegui, one of the sesame farmers, says:

'It’s much better to sell to the co-op, not only because they give us a higher price, but also because they help us in other ways. If we sell to them, it’s a way of recompensing them for the help they have given us.

Intermediaries are just interested in helping themselves, making a living out of seeing others starve, keeping us weak and dependent. But we have a much better and more equal relationship with the co-operative.'

Income

Having found a regular, fair market; having established a steady income; and having increased production, Co-op members aimed to bring benefits to the local community. They set up a Credit Union, so that peasant farmers with no access to bank loans could invest in farming equipment like water pumps.

They run training courses to teach local farmers better ways of growing their crops; how to use organic fertiliser; how to create terraces; and how to conserve soil. They created a community shop, supplying staple foods at low prices.

And they built a natural health clinic, using local plants to treat 200 patients a month at a price they could afford. They also set up a model farm to employ local people at £1.50 a day, rather than the usual £1.

And finally, they sell low-price fresh fruit and vegetables to the people of Achuapa through the community shop.

Juan Bravo Reyes concludes: “We want a better world, a more just society, where we can share in a more just way. We want a market where we can consume a product that’s really fair – fair for both the producer and consumer.” Fair trade is truly trade justice.