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The CAF and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute held a contest in 2002 to support productive projects that promote the sustainable use of biodiversity resources in Colombia.
The three soundest proposals in each category were selected, as follows:
The CAF has been supporting these proposals by providing financial support for their business plans and environmental and social management plans through its credit lines or technical cooperation through the Human Development Fund – Fondeshu.
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Espavé Foundation
Organizational, Technical and Business Consolidation of the Network of Women Producers and Marketers of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Quibdó, Chocó.
Objective: Consolidation of an environmentally, culturally and commercially viable productive alternative, as a model for the use and management of the natural resources of the Colombian Pacific.
Product: Aromatic plants and organic condiments from Chocó.
Executors: Espavé Foundation and the Chocó Women’s Network.
Place: Quibdó, Chocó Department, Colombia.
Impacts:
- Environmental:
- Agroforestry management plans.
- Motivation to use species from the region.
- 35 new composters and 35 new decomposers in the production units of producers with good environmental practices.
- 25 to 30 kg of fertilizer produced in composters and decomposers each month.
- Process with criteria of organic certification.
- Economic-social:
- Generation of jobs for 75 women.
- Training of 75 women.
- Marketing of new products in the Medellín, Cali, Bogotá and Quibdó markets.
- Possible exports in 2004.
- Breakeven point in 2003.
- 1.8 additional hectares cultivated by new producers in areas degraded with agroforestry systems or management of alternate crops outside the home.
- Production of 320 kg a week of fresh processed raw material.
- 35 new composters and 35 new decomposers in the productive units of new producers with good environmental practices.
- Technological:
- Adoption of new practices to be developed in all (75) the productive units, based on repellent and attracting plants, hydrolats, microbial cultures among others.
- Espavé Foundation has developed technological equipment adapted to the high humidity of Chocó: dryers and grinders.
Support from the CAF: After a process of support from the CAF to refocus some aspects of the project, in February 2003 the CAF approved Non-Reimbursable Technical Cooperation for the execution of this productive project. The first disbursement was made in March, and the first planned activities are now under way in line with the proposed timetable.
Contacts:
Sergio Arango - Director
Espavé Foundation
Carrera 43 No. 47-64, Torre Girardot, Ofic.. 303.
Medellín-Colombia
Tel. 57 4 2399106
e-mail: fespave@epm.net.co
Maritza Parra - President
Association of Women Producers and Marketers of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Chocó.
Carrera 5 No. 19ª-07
Quibdó-Colombia
Tel. 57 46 717071
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Acecolsa
Aceites Esenciales: Nueva Visión Empresarial del Agro - Santander.
Objective: The company’s objective is to integrate capabilities for the development of rural areas, expanding horizons in the building of an agroindustrial Colombia, which generates welfare, enriching the environment and offering its customers products with ecological qualities.
Product: Essential oils from the limonaria plant.
Executors: ACECOLSA (formed by Grupo Gestor, Asociación El Común and SEPAS).
Place: Guanentá and Comunera Provinces, Santander Department, Colombia.
Impacts:
- Environmental:
- Agroindustrial management of Santander Department with a view to obtaining final products with good environmental and social practices.
- Possible ecological certification of the product.
- Cultivation of 630 hectares in ten years currently exposed to erosion. Research support from the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for agro-biodiversity management of the crops and contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
- Social-economic: lo quité
- Alternative income to improve living conditions of the region’s small farmers.
- Setting up of 24 to 32 producer centers which will generate about 1,030 jobs over ten years.
- Creation of 32 additional jobs in the company.
- Technical agroindustrial, organizational, administrative and social training required to guarantee operations provided through technical assistance, workshops, and other means.
- Equipping of the centers with the infrastructure needed for the primary distillation process.
- Technological:
- Technological packages for the producers in the centers and the distillation units, support for setting up the industrial component and start-up of the productive and distillation processes.
- Construction and assembly of the processing and refining plant for the oils; administrative offices and support processes for research, marketing, among other aspects.
- Research and development (R&D) of new products that expand the scope of ACECOLSA, exploiting the advantages and capabilities of the business model which has a high social impact.
CAF contribution: The CAF has been supporting the structuring the project to ensure eligibility for a loan from Fondeshu. The project promoters and the Corporation have had a number of contacts to finalize the credit application.
Contacts:
Fernando Isaacs – Project Promoter Email: isaacs@uolpremium.net.co
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Alas de Colombia.
Zoocriadero de Mariposas El Arenillo, Valle del Cauca, Colombia.
Objective: To establish a breeder for quitar butterflies in El Arenillo which will produce chrysalides and mounted adults for export to the target market, as a strategy to conserve nature and generate income for the company and the local community.
Product: 30 species of quitar butterfly (Lepidóptero Rhopalocero).
Executor: ALAS DE COLOMBIA, mariposas nativas Ltda.
Place: El Arenillo, Ayacucho District - La Buitrera, Palmira municipality, Valle del Cauca Department, Colombia.
Impacts:
- Environmental:
- Promote the recovery and breeding of 30 species of quitar butterfly.
- Exploitation of Colombia’s own biodiversity resources, under criteria of sustainability, aimed at wildlife breeding.
- Protection of the natural habitat of the butterflies in reserve forests.
- Propagation of botanical species associated with the productive chain.
- Support for the conservation and increase in butterfly species for breeding.
- Sustainable exploitation and management of the forest.
- Social-economic:
- Creation of jobs and economic independence of neighboring producers to permit the small farmers to remain on their land, improve their living conditions, self-esteem and sociocultural level, discourage migration from rural areas, and minimize the possibility of involvement with irregular forces.
- Establishment of a new line of non-traditional exports.
- Training of ten families, with permanent technical assistance and quality control, in both directions: breeding and species management and agronomic aspects, organic crops.
- Technological:
- Setting up of a small-scale artificial closed-cycle intensive system, without technological implications or genetic manipulation.
- To be replicable in the country, one of the three richest in the world in butterflies.
CAF contribution: The CAF assisted with the structuring of this project to ensure eligibility for a financial contribution. However in November 2002, Alas de Colombia advised that the project was in an area of armed conflict and that it would resume contact when considered prudent. So far the CAF has not been contacted.
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