Equal Exchange

Gumutindo means "excellent quality" in the local Lugisu language, and that's exactly what the members of this Ugandan co-op are working toward.

The Small Organic Farmers Association (SOFA) project began in 1993 with the vision to establish a prosperous community living in harmony with the environment, and today there are over 1,600 small-scale landowner members. Today, the majority of tea is still grown on monoculture plantations that stripe the soil of nutrients. Unlike this typical model, the SOFA members sustain the land by growing a variety of foods including pepper, cloves and ginger, but tea is their most important crop.

Initially funded by the United Nation's program to promote cacao cultivation as an alternative to growing coca leaves, ACOPAGRO is now an established exporter of quality cacao. The co-op, based in the San Martin region, has grown from 27 members in 1997 to more than 1,900 members today and is now the largest cacao exporter in Peru.

CEPIBO was formed by small scale banana farmers located across northern Peru as a non-profit cooperative to provide access to the international market by representing, coordinating and marketing banana exportation for 12 grower associations.

Cooperativa de Producción Agro-Industrial Manduvira Ltda (Manduvira Co-op) is located in the village of Arroyos y Esteros (Streams and Swamps), in the southwestern region of Paraguay.