Senora

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Jok eVAge Pipeline idees

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Cooperative Agronuez Choapa – Equal Exchange
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Our Fairtrade certified Chiliean Walnuts are the new addition to our nut range; with their delicate flavour, and golden crunch, they arenot only delicious, but help toprovide a sustainable way of life for our farmers.
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Walnut trees were first planted in the Chilean valleys during the Spanish conquest. Today walnut trees are a vital step on the road to independence and economic security for the 48 members of Cooperative Agronuez Choapa who live in the valleys around Illapel in central Chile. Public transport ispoor and telephone communications still intermittent. Family incomes from farming are supplemented by jobs in the mining industry or seasonal labour on commercial farming elsewhere in the country.
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Farming is marginal despite 320 days of sunshine.  Plant growth is reliant on an annual bounty of snow melt from the nearby Andean peaks. However thereis just not enough water to go around. The government classifies the area as only 30% sufficient with water resources: a situation now exacerbated by illegal water drawing by commercial properties and mining.
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Farmer Benefits
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Project work supported by INDAP,  part of the government ministry ofagriculture (with special remit to support small scale farming) has renovated traditional irrigation channels to improve efficiency of  water use, and encouraged planting tree crops such as walnuts. Our aim is to provide support and encourage to the new cooperative and build its capacity for independent export of shelled walnuts later this year. As the trees grow bigger, volume will increase tooffer several hundred tonnes per year.
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Extraordinary Quality
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The first trial shipment of in-shell Walnuts introduced this high quality nut to British consumers in 2008.
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The Serr variety produces a relatively thin shelled and easy to crack nutwith a pale amber skin and fine rich flavour. We believe these are some of the best flavoured walnuts available today in Britain.

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Gayo Farmers Association (PPKGO) / Equal Exchange partner
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In 1997, a collaborative organic coffee project was set up in the highland area of Takengon in Indonesia'sAceh Province. This rugged and scenic area is located in the northwestern corner of the island of Sumatra and is the home of the distinctive Gayo ethnic group.
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Co-op members are small-scale coffee farmers dedicated to producing 100% shade-grown, organic coffee. It has maintained relative peace and unity among an ethnically diverse membershipcomprised of Gayo, Javanese, Acehnese, Padang, and Batak peoples. Twenty percent of PPKGO’s members are women.
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The project involves a partnership between five local organic farmer associations, a team of organic agriculture field extensionists, and a community-based coffee processing company that has been in business for over thirty years.-------------------------------------------------
This production area was carefully selected for the project due to its inclusion in the buffer zone of the Gunung Leuser National Park, a large forested area that contains critical watershed areas and wildlife sanctuaries for rare and endangered species such as Sumatran tigers, elephants, and orangutans.
Work is also being done to develop economic...