Latin America and the Caribbean

Cocoa Farmers Connect with Gourmet Chocolate Maker

The package of Askinosie Chocolate’s dark chocolate bar from Cortés, Honduras shows a smiling farmer, backed by cocoa trees. This is Fermin Arriaga, the lead farmer at Finca Patricia, which supplies premium cocoa beans to Askinosie. TechnoServe is showing farmers that they can get a higher price for their…

Sustainable Support for Smallholder Farmers in Peru

Geister Cachique remembers the days when he and his family depended on coca plants to earn a living. Coca, which can be processed into cocaine, was one of the only crops that would grow well on their marginal land in the community of Las Mercedes, located in Peru’s tropical San…

A New Boost for Entrepreneurs in Central America and Africa

In 2010, university student Julio Baltodano surveyed the local apparel industry in Managua, Nicaragua, and devised a clever business idea. Together with his friend Verónica Bucardo, Julio envisioned IKO Imagen as a leather and textile manufacturer that would specialize in handbags and brand merchandising, or placing company logos on t-shirts…

Waiting for the Mangoes to Ripen

Access to credit frees Haitian farmers to sell and invest on their own terms. As part of the Haiti Hope Project, TechnoServe and its partners have launched a pilot loan program for farmers who have difficulty accessing credit in Haiti.