BANAFRUCOOP is a Fairtrade certified banana cooperative located in northern Colombia, established in 2007 by 26 farmers to improve the competitiveness of their products and address challenges of violence and armed conflicts in the region. With 35 members currently, including 11 women, they grow premium quality bananas on plots averaging 5.6 hectares, along with other crops like papaya and chili. The implementation of Fairtrade Standards has increased the demand for local labour, with each producer now employing an average of 11 temporary workers.

Luis Mantilla is a member of BANAFRUCOOP. He sees Fairtrade’s impact in many ways.

For one, farmers have seen their productivity improve – in Luis’s case, more than doubling production, from 6 pallets to 15. Fairtrade Premium funds, which the cooperative earns on every Fairtrade sale, have been invested toward this goal.

“Because, for example, we get a dollar per box as Fairtrade Premium. On the issue of irrigation, Fairtrade has helped us in the investment in the cable. In terms of updating the plantation, Fairtrade funds help us a lot to renew the plantation.”

Luis continues: “And that helps the small producer a lot. If Fairtrade doesn’t exist, the small producer disappears.”

Fairtrade has also supported investments that benefit workers and their families, as well as farmers.

 “Thanks also to Fairtrade, we have helped a lot of our co-workers who are here on the farm, improving their quality of life, both mine and theirs,” says Luis.

Alfredo de la Hoz, who works for BANAFRUCOOP, also knows about the Fairtrade Premium. “Personally, I have been a beneficiary of this as [the cooperative] provided me with a house. They also built a school in Varela, and many people have received houses similar to mine.”

Today, the children of BANAFRUCOOP families are also able to pursue their career dreams, supported by scholarships funded by Fairtrade Premium. “I am proud that, thanks to Fairtrade, I have educated my children,” says Luis. “I have an engineer, I have a technologist and a banana supervisor.”