Ramiro Silva has grown strawberries in central Mexico for over 20 years. But despite his many years of experience, he often struggled to control plant diseases and pests around the farm. He also sold through intermediaries, earning limited money from his crops. After joining a TechnoServe program, Ramiro gained the skills and connections he needed to improve his production and increase his income.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for fruit farmers in Mexico as they try to find markets for their produce amidst shutdowns and shifts in consumer behavior. TechnoServe is helping farmers like Eloy Castañón connect to formal buyers and earn better prices for their produce, ensuring resilience during an uncertain time.
In 2019, TechnoServe partnered with Danone, Grupo Altex, Fundación Walmart, and others to launch Madre Tierra, an initiative that aims at implementing an innovative and sustainable model to empower Mexican smallholder strawberry farmers through a transformative set of training, technologies, access to capital, and connection to markets.
Newmont and TechnoServe partnered to build the capacity of more than 300 entrepreneurs in rural Mexican communities.
Launched in August 2016, the Entrepreneurship and Business Development program, a partnership between Newmont and TechnoServe Mexico, is working to create inclusive economic growth in the communities surrounding the Newmont Minera Peñasquito (MP) mining operation in Zacatecas, Mexico.
A sustainable agriculture initiative in Mexico illustrates how partnerships can help smallholders connect to high-value markets.
Walmart Foundation Mexico and TechnoServe collaborate in the Inclusive Agriculture Program, an initiative to support smallholder farmers in Mexico to increase their productivity, quality and sustainability standards, and develop their business capabilities to facilitate their integration into the value chain of main buyers of fruits and vegetables in the country.
Together with several partners, TechnoServe supports the development of small-scale milk producers in the Margarita program to improve the management of their farms and increase their family income.
In Nicaragua, Iveth Juárez, a small business owner who processes and sells cereal to the local market, had attended seminars, workshops, courses and training sessions on accounting and finance. But at the end of each session, she always felt the same sense of confusion.
