WHAT
IS APPTA
APPTA is an
association of small producers
founded in 1987. Currently the
association consists of 1067
producers of which 80% is
indigenous Bribri or Cabécar and
20% is black or white. Women
consist 38% of the members of the
association.
We are working in
more than 30 communities in the
southern Caribbean region of
Costa Rica: Talamanca. Our
organization works in the aspect
of organic agriculture and its
implications in our present and
future.
Currently we are
working in the production and
marketing of organically
certified cacao, bananas, and
other fruits. APPTA has been
recognized for its efforts in
preserving the environment in a
productive way. The efforts have
impelled the development of
Talamanca's traditional
agro-ecological production system
to realize the recovery of
beneficial conditions for the
environment while also inducing
the development of
income-generating capacities. The environmental sustainability and capacity building are sought through 1) the
development of training
processes, 2) the improvement of the
production and process of
cacao, 3) the constant marketing of
banana for puree, banana for
fresh fruit, and 4) the placement of
some 20 organic products in the
national market. These are done not
only with the technical team, but
also with producers. The fruits and
crops are produced in the
traditional way practiced by the
ancestors of the inhabitants of
Talamanca that cultivate in
an integrated system; cacao, together with
bananas and other crops are produced under the
shades of lumber trees and fruit
trees, which provides great
conditions to protect the
environment.
APPTA
Organizational Structure
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MISSION
We are an Organization of small agri-ecologic producers, who work for our
associates' and community's better quality of life.
Through efficient production, industrialization and commecialization procesess,
the environment is protected and contribute to vonserve natural, ethnic
and cultural richness of Talamanca and surrounding regions.
VISION
We will be a leading organization in the agri-ecologic production, consolidated
as a social company, with competente and dedicated personnel and associates,
who, through the conservation of our biodiversity and strategic alliances,
develop the production and agro-industry for an equal distribution of incomes
and contribute to the improvement of the associates' qualifty of life.
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VALUES
RESPECT TO THE EARTH AND ITS EXISTENCE:
Because it feeds us, we are made of earth and we owe it respect; respect
to the ancestral agri-ecologic production system of Indoamerica, to the
forest and its diversity, to the animals, rivers, and water as the source
of life, to the trees and cacao as a sacred plant.
IF there are trees, there is water,
if there is water... there will be life |
LEADERSHIP:
In the protection fo natural resources, in the agri-ecologic production, en the quality of our products and organziation. |
EQUITY:
As a way of distributing benefits without any type of discrimination. |
EFFICIENCY:
In the use of resources, in the work we realize, in the completion of promises, in the commercialization and search of markets. |
TRANSPARENCY:
In our actions, when we manage and use the resources of the organization
for economic, social, and political ways.
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DEDICATION:
With the organization with faithfulness and responsability. |
INTEGRATION
Through the development of strategic alliances as a better way to surpass
our weaknesses and take advantage of our opportunities, providing and receiving
benefits. |
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ACTIVITIES:
PRODUCTION AND COMMERCIALIZATION
OF PRODUCTS
APPTA develops
intensive operational
dynamics that consist of
training, production and diversification of
organic products, as well as of
sales in both the
domestic and international
markets for bananas. After years
of work, we now see APPTA with
tremendous advances and achievements
that deserve to be mentioned.
Organic products for the national market
Talamanca,
actually, is a marvelous land
that produces a great quantity of
produce. Faithful to its
entrepreneurial management
commitment, APPTA trades organic
products in the national market.
Currently 3.5 tons of 20
different seasonal and all-year
fruits such as coconut, Gross
Michel banana, date banana, red
macabu, and plantain are marketed
weekly on average.
Also, sowing
plans for products such as yucca,
ayote, yam, yampi, and malanga
that can have constant presence
in the market are in the process
of development. All of these have
permitted to improve the dynamics
of farms because they enable the
diversification and the
realization of more dynamic
economy of the plots.
Organic
products for the international
market
APPTA
has been placing cacao in the
markets that recognize the
organic quality of our product.
In such a way, despite the
international prices of cacao
have decreased down to 700
dollars per ton, APPTA achieved
to maintain a price of almost
1000 dollars per ton for the
producers. This work serves to
fulfill the organization's
philosophy of proposing the best
possible price to the producers.
In 2000, 210 tons of dried
organic cacao was exported, of
which 150 tons was shipped to the
U.S., while 50 tons was marketed
to the European market on a
fair-trade basis.
The sales of
banana for puree have been very
important. In the last seven
years they have been sold to
Gerber, which, through weekly
quotas, has been offering us a
market alternative for this
product. However the volume is
still low; and therefore, other
market channels for banana puree are still sought.
Recently we have started selling
in Canada and we are eagerly
working to sell our product in
Europe through fair-trade.
Improvement
of plantations
Improvement of
cacao production has been pursued
in collaboration with CATIE and
two indigenous associations of
the zone, ADITIBRI and ADITICA,
through a project that
rehabilitates cacao plantations.
This effort recaptures the
tradition of working in communal
groups, that is to say, groups of
six persons, in rotation, work
two work cycles in each plot, to
realize rehabilitation work such
as elimination of monilia,
pruning, and mowing. This is
practiced in 19 communities of
high Talamanca. Some communities
have more than one group, and
about 70 groups are functioning
at the moment. It is hoped that
such practices will improve and
increase the production by
taking advantage of the culture
and the tradition of the region.
Banana
for fresh fruit
A project that
has been carried out for some
years and that is beginning to
pay off now is the production of
organic bananas to be sold as
fresh fruit with exportable
quality. Currently we are working
with a total of 40 producers in
30 hectares of managed banana
plots to export 300 boxes of
fresh fruit bananas to Europe
weekly. Now we are beginning the
process of converting this pilot
project into an export
alternative.
Future
Perspectives
Product
diversification, experiments and
market extension consist the
organizational development plans
APPTA aims to offer to its
members. Furthermore, we are
striving to strengthen the
production and administrative
directives, as well as to tighten
the collaboration between
management, the board of
directors and the administrative
personnel. Dedication of many
persons make the operation and
the growth of APPTA possible,
contributing to prepare ourselves
to face new and larger
challenges.
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PROJECTS
Production
and exportation of
organic bananas as fresh
fruit: accomplished in
alliance with three
organizations of
producers.
Production
and exportation of
organic banana puree in
collaboration with a
local industry.
Industrialization
and exportation of cacao
in cooperation with a
local industry.
Biodiversity
conservation and
sustainable protection of
organic cacao (a project
developed in an alliance
of APPTA, ADITIBRI,
ADITICA, and CATIE).
Diversification
of the production and
marketing of about 45
organic products.
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PRODUCTION
SYSTEM
What APPTA
practices is nothing new. APPTA
only puts the products, which
were produced in the production
system that was historically
developed by the inhabitants of
Talamanca, to the market. In this
traditional production system,
different species of fruits, root
plants, and other plants are
produced under the shade of
trees.
Talamanca is rich
in biodiversity. Nine of the
twelve life zones of Costa Rica
are counted in the area
(Holdridge 1967) and 60% of the
national fauna including between
35.000 and 100.000 kinds of
insects, as well as 84 kinds of
mammals, 141 of reptiles, 361 of
fowls, 220 of butterflies and 227
of fish and marine organisms are
found in the area. There also
exists a great diversity of
plants, many of which are found
only in Talamanca.
This wealth of fauna and flora, combined with the rich ethnic and cultural
diversity of the area has developed forms of production in which the ancestral
culture is integrated to the natural wealth of the area. For years the
Bribris and Cabécares have cultivated diverse produces in conjunction.
Products such as corn, Yampí, yucca, tiquisque, and beans are
cultivated together with bananas and plantains, under the shade of fruit-bearing
trees such as palms of pejibayes and lumber trees. Often, this production
system also consists of various domestic animals. This form of production,
for an outsider, may appear without the "order" of conventional
monoculture, but its wealth is the difference: it is an integrated system
that permits one to live and produce in a sustainable manner. In this system
the family produces a variety of fresh foods for consumption, while being
able to produce to sell bananas and plantains on a regular basis. At the
end of year they also generate income from the sales of cacao and lumber
trees. Chonta and bindweeds are also used to build their houses.
This form of
production, recaptured and
strengthened now by means of 1)
training processes, and 2)
organization and marketing, is
increasingly recognized as a rich
production system in diversity
and sustainability. It is a
system with a rich diversity of
wild animals, such as migrant
fowls and mammals, in which a
respectable quantity of insects,
as well as an important variety
of plants live.
The
agro-ecological system,
furthermore, 1) protects the soil
from erosion and runoff, 2) helps
to preserve the water, 3)
incorporates organic matter in
the soil, which in turn enriches
the fertility and permits to
develop a totally organic
production system. More importantly, the
families of producers maintain a
productive relationship of
respect and welfare with the
nature, and feel as and be part
of their conservation.
There is no doubt
that with their traditions, their
respect for the nature, and
expanding knowledge the producers
of Talamanca will continue to
advance in the productive
conservation of natural
resources. They are an example
for our country and for the
world.
APPTA's rules of
organic production are as
follows:
Obligations
- Work organically,
without chemical.
- Practice agriculture
that improves the
fertility of soil,
minimizes the loss of
soil, protects the
organisms that live in
the soil, uses only
organic materials and
approved inputs, and
protects the sources of
water and animals.
- Use only organic
seeds
- Harvest, process, and
storage cleanly and
naturally.
- Keep all the receipts
of the organic product
sales with APPTA, because
inspectors will arrive to
check the sales.
- Keep all the invoices
of organic inputs bought
outside of the property.
- The
"Transitional
Certification" is
procured when a producer
wants to convert a
conventionally treated
property into organic: 3
continuing years of
chemical free agriculture
need to be practiced to
obtain the organic
certificate.
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Prohibitions
- Chemical input:
fertilizer, plaguicides,
herbicides, insecticides,
fungicides, nematicides,
growth enhancer
(hormones).
- Seeds treated with
chemical.
- Felling forest,
burning trees, causing
erosion and destruction
of the lives in soil is
prohibited and can
provoke the loss of the
certification.
- A chemically treated
plot next to an organic
plot, or a property where
chemical is used in a
part can not be
certified either.
- Watering or washing
products with
contaminated water (of
other chemically treated
properties or black water
of house).
- The means of
transportation must be
clean, pollution of the
products with gasoline
and oil need to be
avoided.
- Killing animal with
strychnine or
anticoagulant poisons
(rat poisons).
- Using boxes or sacks
that once contained
chemical products.
- Selling products of
other properties that are
not certified.
- Using a contaminated
pump already used with
chemical to apply organic
materials.
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CERTIFICATION
Who
Certifies us: the
following agencies
certify us:
For the
American market Eco
– LOGICA certifies
us. ECOCERT certifies us
for the European market.
For Switzerland,
Bio-Suisse.
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