When competitiveness and inclusion reinforce each other: take-aways from the CREA project

Revitalising Ecuador's agri-food sector towards competitiveness in international markets: that was the ambitious goal set out in the CREA project, initiated in 2022 and led by Rikolto in consortium with the National Association of Food and Beverage Manufacturers (ANFAB), COSPE, the Litoral Higher Polytechnic College (ESPOL) and KU Leuven University, with funding of the European Union.

This partnership brought innovation, sustainability and inclusion across eight value chains (cocoa, coffee, plantain, banana, quinoa, avocado, guayusa and soursop).

An important take-away from CREA is the value that lies in collective work, with a multitude of perspectives and expertise. This allowed us to drive the initiative towards innovative proposals linked to the circular economy, the inclusion of young people and women or private sector investments. In this article, we reflect on how this was essential to a more cohesive agri-food system.

Collective approach to connect producer organisations and SMEs to the market

Throughout the project, we improved EU market access for 14 cocoa and coffee producing organisations and 9 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as 34 organisations/SMEs in the other selected chains. We worked together to strengthen their export capacities, marketing skills and entrepreneurship, preparing them for participation in over 20 national and international trade fairs. All in all, they made close to 200 commercial contacts and generated over $2.7 million in business opportunities.

As a starting point, we conducted a commercial diagnosis with each producer organisation and SME. This shaped a tailored strategy, focused on strengthening the commercial management capabilities, from preparing and following up on proposals and identifying market opportunities, to navigating export processes and concrete negotiations.

The example of cocoa farmer organisation UNOCACE captures this well: following its participation in four trade fairs in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, UNOCACE strengthened its commercial management and consolidated a clear strategy for market and client diversification. These efforts generated $1.1 million in actual and projected sales, generating new income for their members.