Max Havelaar France

"The guarantee of the minimum price brings stability. We, producers, are not totally subjected to the law of supply and demand. We know that we will be paid at least US$ 69 the quintal. This guarantee makes it possible to plan long term, to invest, to develop technical support, in one word, to develop our business", explains Felipe, a producer from El Ceibo Cooperative, a Fairtrade Certified cocoa producer in Bolivia.

During the celebration of the Fairtrade Fortnight in May, Felipe visited France to talk about his experience with Fairtrade, its benefits, the daily problems of smallholders. To consumers in France, he became the face and the voice of millions of producers in the South.

Felipe was born in the Andes, on the Altiplano, 3600 metres altitude, on the banks of the Titicaca Lake. He is an Aymara, a member of an ancient Andean people who have been living in these mountains for thousands of years. His parents were farmers and Felipe still smiles when he remembers the taste of the coffee, bananas and vegetables they used to grow. After his studies, he decided to follow the family tradition and started to cultivate the land. He concentrated on cocoa production and in 1985 became a member of El Ceibo Cooperative in Alto Beni, Bolivia. El Ceibo is made up of 38 cooperatives, which include nearly 800 families. Each producer, who owns an average of two hectares of land, is affiliated to one of these 38 grassroots cooperatives, which are coordinated by the central cooperative. El Ceibo processes and markets the cocoa and provides technical support to the producers.

"When I became a member of the El Ceibo Cooperative, we were still selling to the traditional circuit, we did not know about Fairtrade. We had never heard anything about it. The representatives of the cooperative were the ones who found out" explains Felipe. In 1997, El Ceibo started to sell cocoa to the Fairtrade labelled market. In 2002, El Ceibo sold 300 tons of Fairtrade Certified cocoa, 460 tons the following year and 420 tons in 2004. In 2002, the Fairtrade Premium added up to US$ 50.000, in 2003 62.000 and in 2004 58.000. "Almost 50% of the amount is invested in technical aid. The rest is distributed for different purposes: assistance to the families who do not have the resources to access medical treatment after accidents, contributions for the school's infrastructure trough grants and donations. Every case is treated and discussed individually" adds Felipe.

When asked about the future, Felipe says that he wishes for a long term relationship between El Ceibo and its Fairtrade buyers. "For us that is not a business of two or three years, it is long term collaboration. The idea is not to sell only cocoa, but other products like dry fruits, coffee. That is what we have in mind at the moment. Our dreams go even further. We think about Fairtrade tourism. Alto Beni is very beautiful. There is much to see and to do" says Felipe smiling.

In Alto Beni, Fairtrade is helping smallholders not only to survive but to plan long term, to think about investing in new income generation activities, which is especially important in a country like Bolivia, which has the lowest Human Development Index (HDI) of all South America.