Meet our Guests
Producer Profile: Maria Genao
Prior to becoming a banana farmer, Maria Genao lived in the United States where she worked most of her life as a medical assistant. It was during that time that she realized that working with people and helping the ones in need was one of her greatest passions.
She returned to Dominican Republic where her Father was a banana farmer and member of the Banelino Cooperative since its inception. The Banelino Cooperative is an association of small producers in northern Dominican Republic that exports organic bananas certified by the Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO).
Maria’s father spoke highly of the Banelino Cooperative. As she learnt herself about the Coop’s work, she knew that being part of Banelino was a right choice for her when she decided to follow in her father’s steps and continue working on the farm in 2010. Now, Maria and her brother have four permanent employees who are all working one day a week on their 3.5 hectare of banana farm.
In addition to being a producer in Banelino, Maria is also a secretary of the board of directors, president of the Banelino affiliate handcraft group GAMUB and also president of the apiarian group (MIELINO). She is very proud to be involved with all of these diverse initiatives knowing that they all not only contribute to the local economy but also have positive impact on our environment and planet.
Maria explains her reasons for creating GAMUB, a handcraft group using banana fibres, “the main goal of GAMUB is to integrate women and youth, so they feel even more part of the association by becoming aware of our community’s tight relationship with the bananas, and so they can be creative while earning a bit of money. We hope to grow and open a small store in the nearby tourist beach town of Monte Cristi soon. But the long term plan is to export our baskets to Fairtrade markets abroad. This idea came up thanks to a workshop provided by Banelino out here, financed by Fairtrade premium money, where a local woman taught many of us this particular local skill that was about to become extinct. So we are proudly keeping it alive as it is part of our heritage”.
When speaking about Fairtrade, Maria had this to say: “The impact that Fairtrade has in the lives of the small producers are many, it ensures our work as producers by protecting the market throughout the year, by helping us in many ways to keep growing and by being there through tough times when we are in need”.
“For all these and many other reasons I’m proud to be part of Banelino and to had been certified as Fairtrade member”.
Producer Profile: Jose Omar Rodriguez Romero
Jose Omar Rodriguez Romero – just “Omar” to his friends – is a 4th Generation coffee producer, coffee lover, and resident of the village of Capucas, San Pedro de Copan, Honduras.
Omar took over his father’s leadership position in the Limited Coffee Cooperative of Capucas (COCAFCAL) in 2004 and dedicated himself to expanding upon his father’s work with his own vision.
He began several new initiatives, including producing high-quality coffee, planting a variety of Arabica coffee plants, using solar dryers to process coffee beans, promoting micro-lot coffee, and promising to certify the Cooperative’s coffee. The Coop now maintains eight certifications (Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Organic, Starbucks, UTZ Certified, Bird Friendly, Naturland and JAS).
When he first took over the Coop, there were 55 local members, and it managed about 20,000 bags of coffee. Under Omar’s leadership, the coop processed nearly 170,000 bags in the 2013–2014 harvest for export to 10 countries.
Recognizing the farmers’ need to diversify their income, Omar helped start ancillary projects like organic honey, fruits and vegetables for export, drying fruit, and developing organic fertilizer to maximize farm production while improving the environment. He also helped promote programs to renew farms, produce wood and ornamental trees, and rearing heifers. The Coop has also provided university scholarships and computer training workshops for the community, as well as funding for local medical brigades and a doctor’s residency. They help women’s groups create their own businesses through the Coop, and also supporting tourism in the region.
Omar is pushing the Coop to new heights every year, helping it achieve the mission “to promote sustainable development, reducing poverty, and improving the quality of life in local communities”.
Omar works hard to assert the Cooperative’s coffee in the international market. “I have 52 employees in different areas. I communicate with producers on a day to day basis about all the challenges such as the harvest, the market, etc”. “I have always lived surrounded by coffee plantations and my world has always been the coffee production world. I was sent to the capital of the country Tegucigalpa with the mission of coming back to work for the Cooperative because we knew we had a quality product but no one was able to market or sell it. So, I chose to study a business administration and marketing degree at university and while I studied I looked for partners to work with Capucas”.
Fairtrade is important to Omar, “because it’s a scheme that is in the hands of small farmers and has a very positive economic, social, and environmental impact on the lives of the producers and the wider community”.