Cruz Campo Peru processes and commercializes organic native Peruvian fruits and vegetables sourced (such as golden berry, yacon, arracacha, native potato, mango, cacao, lucuma) from a network of 70+ small-scale producers in the Peruvian Andes.
Cruz Campo’s impact is threefold:
Social and Economic – It diversifies and increases the source of income for small scale producers. They used to harvest crops such as potatoes and corn with no spare income for education, health or housing improvements.“We learned the value of working together to improve production by sharing experiences. We were blind before, but thanks to Rosa [Cruz Campo’s ED] we discovered this product.” Don Silverio, from SINAR Producers Association.
Environment – Organic farming techniques allow for ecological equilibrium and long-term environmental sustainability of the fields.
Health – It has been medically certified that Cruz Campo’s “yacon” jam reduces blood sugar levels (excellent for diabetes). In addition, all products contain high volumes of antioxidants that improve digestion.
Your KIVA loan will help with:
-Organic Certification for farmers’ lands and processes to allow the end products to access international markets and sell for higher prices. Farmers will increase their income by at least 100%.
-Plant Infrastructure and Operating Plan for Cruz Campo’s new facilities: The current plant, located more than 800KM away from the farmers, generates 15-20% of waste per shipment to the plant. The new plant will be 5 times bigger in terms of capacity and 50 times closer (just 40 KM away) to the producers.