Completed project
Rural Business Development (PDER)
March 2004 to March 2019
US $517,850
provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Direct: 3,876 small-scale producers (20% women)
Indirect: 15,504 people (based on an average family of four)
Asociación Barillense de Agricultores (ASOBAGRI)
In Guatemala, lack of infrastructure, low education levels, and above all lack of access to funding for revenue-generating activities in rural areas have limited productivity for small businesses. Against the backdrop of climate vulnerability and fluctuating prices of staple commodities, access to credit is a serious problem for many small producers who need to develop their businesses to survive.
CECI is addressing these issues in Guatemala through PDER (Programme de développement des entreprises rurales), which offers financial support by providing producers’ credits to rural, community-based businesses that belong to marketing networks in order to improve their competitiveness and productivity.
The Rural Business Development Project (PDER) began in 1995 in the cities of Barillas, in Huehuetenango, and Ixcán, in El Quiché. The project was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and was finalized in 2004. Since that time, CECI has continued its financial support through a trust established for communities in transition, called the Fidéicommis communautés en transition (FICOTRANS).
The trust is a partnership contract with a qualified, rural banking institution (Banrural) that selects rural business cooperatives and administers funding for their farming activities through the FICOTRANS fund.
Currently, FICOTRANS is supporting two small coffee producer organizations so they can gather and market their annual harvests. The Asociación Barillense de Agricultores (ASOBAGRI) manages an annual loan of US$430,000, which it uses to market and export its coffee to European and North American markets. ASOBAGRI has maintained a good credit record with FICOTRANS for several years, and this has opened doors to further credit opportunities, enabling the association to provide better services to its members. The Federación Comercializadora de Café Especial de Guatemala (FECCEG) obtained a US$80,000 loan through its commercial branch that will serve as working capital to collect 475,000 quintals of coffee for exportation. This guarantees an income for the association’s members.
Results that count
13
cooperatives exporting certified organic coffee.
3,200 in 2017 (versus 250 in 2004)
producers given access to credit.
15
years during which the project has facilitated access to credit for certified organic coffee producers.