Self-production of organic agricultural inputs

FRUANDES (Frutos de los Andes s.a.s.) is a social enterprise created in 2002 with the purpose to provide formal employment to single mothers in the area of the Cazucà suburb of Bogotà by engaging them to process dried fruits sourced from a network of farmers. By 2007, with the support of Fruandes all partner farmers completed the conversion to organic production. Nowadays the company is sourcing a wide range of organic, Fair Trade fruits (mango, pineapple, goldenberry, dragon fruit, peanuts, banana, cocoa) from communities located in six different regions of Colombia (Cundinamarca, Antioquia, Tolima, Cauca, Nariño, Huila), involving more than 350 families of small-scale farmers.

The recent global crisis in the logistic led to a stop in the supply of agricultural inputs to the communities of organic cocoa farmers in the area of Urabà (Antioquia). Fruandes has started a specific project to develop local alternatives for the generation of those organic inputs, including the creation of a biofàbrica (“biofactory”) for the self-production of bio-fertilizers (supermagro and vermicompost).