Traidcraft has been buying honey from Apicoop, the beekeeping co-operative in Chile, for more than 15 years.
When Apicoop wanted help diversifying into blueberry production, we were happy to go the extra mile - because fair trade is not just about producers accessing markets, it's also about helping them to develop and grow.
As well as helping Apicoop obtain a loan, we made a grant to help them plant blueberry bushes and developed the blueberry Geobar to prepare the market.
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Update from Chino Henriques, general manager at Apicoop
A year and a half has passed since, together with Traidcraft, we started a dream with blueberries, that these could be produced by Apicoop, here in the south of Chile.
Step by step we are getting closer and closer to the objective, which is the day when blueberries sourced from our small honey co-operative will be enjoyed as part of Geobars and maybe in muesli, yoghurt, juice, as fresh fruit – who knows?
From what has happened in the last 18 months, we can see that dreams are becoming part of reality. But this is not pure coincidence - it has happened because of the will of Traidcraft and Apicoop, and is the outcome of a very mature, partnership relationship.
In practical terms what has happened in the last 18 months?
It started with all the work done to get a loan from Shared Interest which has allowed us to buy all the plants that we need in order to cultivate 22 hectares of these small, blue fruits.
Then all the work to transport each one of these plants, moving them from small bags to the bigger bags that will guarantee better conditions for their development, and the construction of shading that will offer the right environment.
In doing all these things we have generated more than 30 new jobs, essentially for women, for several months.
Now we need to implement an irrigation and frost control system. We need to move the plants to the definite place where they are going to grow and we need to pray that Mother Nature will do her part so that in a year we will start harvesting the first volume of blueberries.
This volume of blueberries will grow in the next years until we will have 10 tons of blueberries per hectare, everything produced under fair trade conditions.
