APROMALPI (Asociación de Productores de Mangos del Alto Piura)

Location:

Piura, Peru

Certification(s):

Asociación de Productores de Mangos del Alto Piura, (APROMALPI) cooperative is a Peruvian association of 170 members founded in 1996 originally, by a group of 40 mango producers, to increase family incomes and escape prices imposed by middlemen and brokers.

In 2003, after a one-year experience in export, Apromalpi received Fair Trade certification. The area covered is 340 hectares of mango orchards, representing approximately 2 hectares per farm. The resulting increase in prices paid by Apromalpi to their member growers has enabled producers to improve production because they have been able to spend more on irrigation and composting. During the past few years, mango yields have increased from 8,5t per hectare to 10t per hectare, resulting from progressive densification of the numbers of trees per hectares, and better technical management.

Apromalpi uses their Fair Trade social premiums to fund a low interest loan program for members; the development of textile workshop providing employment for local women; and an onsite medical clinic. Their five year plan will focus on providing educational scholarships for the community.

+Back to the Grower Profile Index+

PDF:

Apromalpi Grower Info Card.pdf

Crops:

Mango - Kent, Passionfruit

Randy visits the APROMALPI coop in Peru

Our Growers Are Our Heroes

We got into this business because we wanted to help small scale organic farmers here at home gain access to the larger commercial marketplace, and to ensure their families and communities thrive. Over the past decade or so, we have endeavored to do this, step by step, with over ninety B.C. farms.

Our hearts still belong to the small scale growers. We have visited dozens of farms in B.C., working with growers to see them move to larger and more financially sustainable operations.

We feel encouraged by the impressive increase in consumer demand for organics and local. We also acknowledge that we might not be able to grow all our own food year round. Even more so now, as our climate changes, no harvest is a safe bet.

So over the years, we have extended our relationships with small scale farmers to include farms down the Pacific Coast, through Washington, Oregon and California, then on to Mexico and South America. Together, this network of growers keep us all fed year round. And for this we are grateful.