Hugo Rocafuerte was one of the first producers to join El Guabo, a Fairtrade banana cooperative, when it formed in 1997. He lives in La Libertad, a small community in Ecuador which has benefited immensely from Fairtrade.
Previously he had been selling bananas to intermediaries on the local market at unsustainable prices:
“Years ago we use to be at the hands of the intermediaries and they really took advantage of us and took the biggest part of the cake. If the banana price per box was ten sucres [old Ecuadorian currency], we would only get three and they would get the rest. This was not enough to live on. The costs of the plantation were not accounted for. We also knew that the fruit we exported had already been sold in the supermarket, but we still had to wait to receive the money.”
Today, Hugo Rocafuerte is the president of the community of banana farmers from La Libertad. Together these farmers have been able to organise, improve production and receive a fairer price – “Receiving the fair price that El Guabo pay for the carton is the biggest benefit… We consider it a good thing to be a part of this system. Now we receive the money every week for our bananas.”
These growers have achieved a lot in their community in only a short time frame, thanks to the support of Fairtrade:
“We supported the construction of the school, donated computers and pay for a teacher… ”
“We were disciplined and we each saved 20 cents for each $1 we received from the premium and our own co-operative saved another 20 cents… Over six years we have been able to build our own offices, a children’s playground, a central warehouse for pallets and loading containers, a meeting room for members of Libertad, we have supported an organic fertiliser project… We have also improved most of our techniques and yields. The children here didn’t have a school. We supported the construction of the school, donated computers and pay for a teacher at the school. The association helped the community because we believe everyone in the community is a part of El Guabo.”
Hugo also has three sons, one who is in the airforce and another who is an agronomist. “As parents we feel very happy and feel like we did a good job.”
Through buying All Good Bananas, you support the growers, their families and communities to have better lives, while you get to enjoy their quality bananas. These bananas are good for the producers, good for the land and good for you. Thanks to you, things are “All Good” for Hugo Rocafuerte, his family and the whole Libertad community!
