Finca Triunfo Verde (FTV)
Lenin Ruiz, head agronomist at Finca Triunfo Verde in Chiapas, Mexico explaining their nursery program.
Co-op Name: Finca Triunfo Verde (FTV)
Location: Jaltenango, Chiapas, Mexico
Partner since: 2008
Number of Producers: 507 (29% Women)
Average land under production per farmer: 3.95 Ha (~9.7 Acres)
Certifications: Organic, Fair Trade, SPP
Varieties:Paca, Bourbon, Anacafe 14, Pache, Catimor
Altitude: 1000-1700 meters above sea level
Processes: Washed
Website: http://www.triunfoverde.org/
Interesting Fact: One of the key activities at FTV are the youth model farms. During this year, the technical team has continued to monitor and support young farmers and offer technical assistance. This has focused on monitoring and plant development, sampling for pest identification and control, application of foliar and solid fertilizers, shade management, ground cover and training with Root Capital (Financial Education and Advisory Partner Organization) to download data from meteorological stations. This data will allow them to have accurate information to their specific regions to create climate risk and adaptation plans.
A little bit of history: Finca Triunfo Verde is a fairly young farmer organization and the founding members began their organizing work in 1999 with the goal of building an organization that focused on finding solutions to common problems faced by smallholder farmers. Farmer members live in 34 communities of 6 municipalities of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, within what is considered the buffer zone of the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve.
Some of these common challenges that smallholders face and FTV aims to resolve are the lack of market opportunities and a lack of access to affordable credit. FTV has given farmers access to projects and investment in productivity-related activities as well as conservation projects with a focus on preserving natural resources. Since its official founding in 2004, FTV has continued to grow and become an attractive organization to farmers in the region.
FinMujer is a legally constituted financial entity developed by FTV, which is intended to provide FTV small producers with access to timely and low-cost loans, as well as promote a financial culture that strengthens the family economies by promoting a habit of savings. At present (2021) there are 51 shareholders invested in FinMujer, including Finca Triunfo Verde. Most of this seed funding came from FTV’s Fair Trade social premiums from 2018-2021.
