“With fair trade, the farmers have more motivation and they are returning to caring for their land. They can now improve the standard of living for their families and the community, and ensure more education for their sons and daughters. They feel useful – they can help their family, their community, and their cooperative." Luis Dario Ruiz Diaz, President of Cooperativa Manduvirá.

About Manduvira

The Manduvirá cooperative is located in the southwest of Paraguay. Life for sugar farmers is tough as the region is remote and isolated, farms are small and incomes are unreliable. In 1975 small farmers in Paraguay formed Co-operativa Manduvirá in order to better market their products. Today there are over 1000 members of this co-operative.

The sale of cane sugar – often to a local distillery – represents the only source of income for countless sugar farmers and their families. With the move to organic production it was possible for the members of the Manduvirá cooperative in the 1990s to lay the foundations for a sustainable improvement in their living conditions.

Manduvirá members hope to one day to be able to mill their own sugar, and export it directly to the international market - providing them with an even higher income. The stable prices and social premium offered by fair trade will be essential in achieving this goal.

Since becoming fair trade, Manduvirá have also received the fair trade social premium. Half of this additional premium goes to the cooperative, where it is used to finance the costs of certification and various social and economic development projects. A new community building and an office equipped with computers have been set up and a dental practice and doctors office opened. Furthermore, the children of particularly poor parents receive free-of-charge school materials. The second half of the premium, which is paid out to the farmers in cash, enables them to improve their own homes.

The aim of the cooperative is to support its members in marketing their sugar cane and other crops and provide a range of services such as credit and savings facilities, welfare programs, technical support and agricultural training.

Part of the premium prices the cooperative receives through fair trade sales is paid to farmers to supplement their incomes to bridge the difficult gap they face between harvests, and the rest funds community projects including health facilities, house repairs and the purchase of farm equipment

“It is not only about the fairtrade premium, today we have a much clearer vision, we can look beyond our own co-op and business. Thanks to Fairtrade, we have grown from small sugar cane farmers to sugar producers.” Andrés Gonzáles Aguilera, Manager of Manduvirá Cooperative.

Watch Manduvira's Sugar video: