AgroFair – Baby Banana Project in Peru:

The project is located in the Huánuco region of Peru and benefits 200 small-scale producers, many of whom are former coca growers (ex-cocaleros).
Since 2013, Altromercato has been active in the region through CTM Agrofair, its company dedicated to the import and distribution of fresh produce, in partnership with Redesign, a small Peruvian company founded by a group of professionals working in Fair Trade.
The region has traditionally been dedicated to coca cultivation. Since 2010, a joint initiative by the Peruvian and US governments has been underway to eradicate coca production and dismantle cells of narcoterrorism linked to the revolutionary movement Sendero Luminoso.
To this end, Alianza Cacao, a public-private company funded by the Peruvian government and USAID (the US development cooperation agency), has converted thousands of hectares in the Alto Huallaga region to cocoa and baby banana production.
The baby banana (Musa paradisiaca spp.) is mainly cultivated in small “agroecological” plots—land characterised by high natural and productive biodiversity—with an average size of 2.5 hectares.
From a strategic perspective, cocoa—along with timber species—is considered a medium- to long-term investment, while the baby banana acts as a so-called cash crop, generating the weekly liquidity producers need to live and reinvest in agricultural production. This helps discourage a return to the more profitable coca leaf cultivation.
Over nearly four years of Altromercato’s presence in the region, and thanks to its partnership with Alianza Cacao and PromPerú, producers have organised themselves into grassroots associations, achieved organic certification, and completed the first exports of organic Fair Trade baby bananas to Italy.
Thanks to financing provided by Ethical Banking, Redesign has invested in improving farming practices, expanding the certified production base, and enhancing supply chain processes, with particular attention to post-harvest handling and the cold chain and logistics systems.
With Ethical Banking support, the initiative has also been replicated in the Cajamarca region, benefiting 80 small-scale mango producers.