News
Empowering women through the birth of TiTaStore
Philippines - COVID-19 Pandemic crippled the many day-to-day activities of human beings. People find it hard to access transportation and buy essentials. More people lost their jobs due to the stoppage of business operations. However, people have to find ways to make a living and sustain the daily needs of the family. Thus, TiTaStores (Tindahang Tapat) Neighborhood Food Market was conceptualized by Gintong Aral Pangkabuhayan Consumer Cooperative. TiTaStore business model was adopted and expanded in the Coops4Food Project. It aims to provide livelihood activities through the selling of rice, vegetable, fruits, and other essentials in the neighborhood at a cheaper price compared to public markets.
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Improving coffee drying techniques in Cooperative San Fernando
Cooperative San Fernando located in Inkawasi, Cusco, has privileged climate conditions to produce high-quality coffee. The farms are situated at an ideal altitude of 1500 to 2600 mamsl with an average daily temperature of 18°C.
In August 2019, Agriterra made an assessment of the cooperative, confirming what their directives had already identified: they produce a highly rewarded specialty coffee, paying up to 3 times the price of the NYSE C per qq. This niche market is very demanding and sensitive to any quality variation, requiring a minimum cup punctuation of 83 SCAA points. Cooperative San Fernando could aim at a much higher punctuation and thus a better selling price, due to its location. However, the unstable and low-quality technology used for processing and drying the coffee has decreased their quality to 82.5 SCAA points, threatening them to lose their market.
Access to Rabo Foundation loans by Vietnamese cooperatives
My name is Pavel Gontsarik, I come from Estonia and since 2017 I study in the Netherlands at HAS University of Applied Science. My faculty is International Food- & Agri-business, and it is the “business” part that got my interest in the financial sector and lead me to Agriterra.
My journey at Agriterra began on 17th of February 2020 when I was accepted to be an intern on a project in Vietnam. At the time my task was to analyse the state of the “Tan Nong Nguyen” cooperative and give an advice on how to make it bankable. However, around that time the whole world went into a lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic and I could not join the team in Vietnam. It was a hard time to endure since no one knew what would happen next and I was worried that my internship would be cancelled all together.
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An email that made my day
Agriterra Business advisor Tjandra Irawan wrote the following blog:
“Thank you for the signed documents. We’ve just initiated the disbursement of the first tranche, and it should go through with our payment run later today.”
This is an email message I received from the Project Coordinator Asia of Rabo Foundation (RF) to the chairman of KSU Citra Kinaraya (CIKI), our rice cooperative client. This cc email really made my day.
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ICT Solutions and their use among Farmer Organisations
Intern Ruth Amoako-Adusei wrote the following blog:
The digital revolution has come to stay and has compelled many to catch on with it. The agricultural sector has not been left out with the onset of precision agriculture, tailored mobile apps and even the Internet of Things (IoT). With the use of ICT systems, productivity has generally increased and the efficiency of food value chains has greatly improved. Agriterra saw the need to assess the ICT use and needs of their Farmer Organisations (FOs) and further map ICT agro solutions to aid in the digitalisation of the FOs to further improve the cooperatives.
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Three technologies to support farmer organisations during the COVID-19 crisis
Intern Elena Paiuc wrote the following blog:
No need to be a nerd to learn about technology. In this post, I will present three main AgriTech technology categories that you need to know about to be able to support smallholder agricultural cooperatives to upgrade their internal management and stay connected to their members, even during the COVID-19.
Powerwomen Magazine
In order to bring awareness to the importance of women in the agricultural sector, Agriterra shares fourteen inspiring stories of strong-willed female (future) leaders.
The stories are collected from inspirational women that work in cooperatives and unions, which are clients of Agriterra. They followed the ‘Female Leadership in Agricultural Cooperatives Masterclass’, held in Kenya. Main purpose of the masterclass is to strengthen the leadership skills of these women.
