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Mr. Wilbert Valverde

Name: Mr. Wilbert Valverde

Title: Part of the Fairtrade team at COOPEAGRI

Organisation: Cooperativa Agrícola Industrial y de Servicios Múltiples El General (COOPEAGRI)

Location: 'Fairtrade in these times of economic instability plays an important role in the future of our organization, allowing us to support our producers, not only by offering them a fair price, but also by continuing to develop and implement our projects.' Wilbert Valverde

San Isidro del General, Perez Zeledon County, Costa Rica

About Wilbert Valverde

Wilbert is part of the Fairtrade team at COOPEAGRI, a cooperative of coffee and sugar cane producers, based in the south of Costa Rica, in the town of San Isidro de El General. He is the fifth of eight brothers of a family of coffee growers.

Wilbert has been part of cooperative organizations all his life, performing a number of different roles such as the promotion of cooperativism and its principles, and the promotion of Fairtrade.

'Fairtrade in these times of economic instability plays an important role in the future of our organization, allowing us to support our producers, not only by offering them a fair price, but also by continuing to develop and implement our projects.' Wilbert Valverde

Organisational Profile

Cooperativa Agrícola Industrial y de Servicios Múltiples El General (COOPEAGRI)

• 12,000 small coffee and sugar cane producers
• Located in the Brunca Coffee Region in southern Costa Rica
• Established in 1962

COOPEAGRI is made up of thousands of small coffee and sugar cane producers and owns one of the main sugar mills in the San Isidro del General region. COOPEAGRI’s mission is to utilize research, technology and human ingenuity to produce high-quality coffee and sugar, provide excellent customer service and develop a strong community for its members. Since becoming Fairtrade Certified in 1994, the cooperative has taken great strides toward fulfilling its goals through a wide variety of social, environmental and production programmes.

The Fairtrade price has enabled COOPEAGRI to establish various social and productive programmes

Education
The cooperative offers college scholarships to five students from each public school in Pérez Zeledón county.

Productive Investment
The cooperative has its own coffee processing plant, sugar mill and is also installing five gathering centres. New investments in the sugar mill include juice clarifiers, automated mill control systems, juice heaters, vaporizers, and high tech centrifuges.

Environment
COOPEAGRI’s environmental programmes include production of organic fertilizer, reforestation projects, and soil conservation. New policies have been established to process and treat waste from the coffee processing plant and sugar mill.

Credit Programme
COOPEAGRI has established a fund to provide monthly economic assistance to members over the age of 65 who have been active in the coop for at least 20 years.

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Costa Rica Facts

Full Name: Republic of Costa Rica
Population: 4.3 million (UNDP 2006)
Capital City: San José
Languages: Spanish (official), English
Currency: Colón
Major agricultural exports: bananas, coffee, fruits, palm oil
Life expectancy: 79 years
Adult Literacy Rate: 95.00%

Did you know?

Costa Rica is home to a rich variety of plants and animals.

While the country has only about 0.1% of the world's landmass, it contains 5% of the world's biodiversity.

Hella Alikuru, from Nairobi, Kenya

This year our guest to the town is Hella Alikuru, from Nairobi, Kenya - the Africa Region Coordinator for the International Union of Food & Agricultural Workers (IUF). 

About Hella Alikuru
Hella, a Ugandan, is involved in Fairtrade activities as an IUF representative for the African region. She advises the trade unions/workers on their participation and their rights within the Fairtrade system. In East Africa, Fairtrade has mainly been involved in flowers, coffee and tea, on large plantations.
Although Fairtrade schemes have existed for years on some farms, the challenge has been how to use the premium funds to benefit the workers and enhance their participation in joint employer/worker bodies as they have little or no knowledge at all of the Fairtrade scheme. As a result the workers/trade unions have little control of the use of the premium funds as the management always chair the bodies.
In Tanzania, the workers have formed Savings and Credit Schemes (SACCOs) and the workers borrow the funds with no interest charged. In Kenya, using Fairtrade premium funds, some farms have purchased vehicles for the transportation of workers and set up computer training facilities, and in Uganda the funds are mainly used for infrastructure development.

More information on Hella is available from the Fairtrade website