Camino is delighted to say that we have added an eighth Country to our list of Southern partners as we have begun purchasing from organic and fair trade certified co-operatives of family farmers in Cuba. Last year, we saw growth levels for our organic and fair trade sugar and hot chocolate products that, combined with the higher global demand for cane sugar used for bio diesel production, exceeded the available cane sugar supply of our long-term partner, Manduvira, a co-operative of family farmers in Paraguay. As our need for golden cane sugar has increased through new product development, we are now able to add to our number of partner co-operatives, augmenting the number of communities of family farmers we reach through fair trade premiums without restraining our level of demand for golden cane sugar products from Manduvira.
The addition of new Cuban partners to Camino’s supply chain network means an increase in the number of partners with which we maintain a direct relationship: a differentiating pillar of our co-operative business model. It also represents a decrease in our carbon footprint through shorter transportation distances, staying true to our environmental values.
Four organic and fair trade certified co-operatives of family farmers located in the Villa Clara province of Cuba will now supply us with golden cane sugar, in addition to Manduvira in Paraguay, for the production of our sugar and hot chocolate products. Each of these co-operatives has close to, or over 100 members. This means that Camino’s reach expands to almost 400 additional family farmers, contributing to the development of vibrant sustainable communities in Cuba through organic agricultural practices and fair trade. The history of Cuban sugar in the past century has been a story of significant hardship. “By working with co-operatives of family farmers in Cuba, we will be building capacity within the sector and we will be providing an increased marketplace for Cuban producers. At the same time, this means growth for us, and growth is good,” says Henk van der Molen, COO.
We will be working on posting additional information on our Cuban partners in the New Year.
Taste of change. Taste of Camino.