Today marks our sixth month anniversary in country. We arrived in Santo Domingo, tired, nervous and full of anticipation... Six months later I celebrated by heading to the beach with a group of fellow volunteers!
We went to Playa Grande on the north coast. Amazing! I've never swam in water this clear and crystal blue. (Coming from California I am a bit of a snob about beaches.) Nothing short of amazing... In the afternoon we talked about a place called Dudu Lagoon. Other than an entertaining name the lagoon is a freshwater oasis in between the towns of Cabrera and Nagua. We decided to make a stop on our way back from the beach. We discovered an absolutely beautiful lagoon with cliffs to dive from, ropes to swing from and the place was all ours. After I had jumped from the highest cliff Letizia told me that I actually screamed twice- once when I jumped, then again when I hadn't hit the water yet! After having our fill of the fresh water we hiked back out to the highway and hitched a ride back to Nagua in the back of a pickup truck. The road to Nagua is right along the coast; it definitely makes me thankful that my country of service is a) an island and b) IN THE CARIBBEAN!
jueves, 13 de marzo de 2008
martes, 11 de marzo de 2008
History of Cooperative
This is part of a email explaining the history of the Cooperative and of the cacao market here in the DR... let me know if anyone has any questions...
Just to give you an idea of how cacao works over here:
In 2001, cacao was sold at 400 pesos, and by 2003, the price of cacao was less to nothing in the DR, and the quality wasn't any better. I am going to discuss the prices in pesos, which are 33 to the dollar. Cacao was worth 900-1500 pesos per 50 kilo sack in 2003, and the only people farmers sold to were local community members who had an empty house for storage. Then a domestic buyer would come by in a truck and buy it from the community members for about a 3-500 peso profit. At this point there was no market for fermentation, so all cacao was sold dry. Also, a lot of the more rural cacao farms were unable to get buyers for the cacao because there wasn't any way to get into the communities, and the price wasn't worth it to bring it down on horseback. The Red (meaning network) was created by a group of farmers to organize their cacao production and try and find a domestic buyer to help get more sales to the remote (and poorest) areas. In 2003, this was great for domestic buyers, because it was easier for them to get the cacao, and they were paying the same prices as they would anyway. Then in 2005, the Red was sponsored by USAID to go to an agricultural fair in Brazil, where they met cacao buyers from Europe and the USA, and started learning about high quality organic markets and the benefits. So in 2006, the Red got its first year of organic certification, paid for by one of the domestic buyers, Yacao. With this certification, it caused the prices to rise up to 2700 pesos per quintal (50 kilo increment), but all of the cacao was still sold to Yacao and Conocado. Then in the fall of 2006, USAID sent another group of farmers to the Biofach conference in Baltimore, where they made contacts with Taza Chocolate and Dagoba. Through these contacts, we began selling small increments through air freight to Taza, and began discussing financing options for a container shipment to Dagoba in conjunction with the World Bank. Dagoba is a big buyer from Conocado and Rizek, and it seems that upon making these contacts the domestic buyers began seeing the cooperative as a threat to the cacao system here in the DR. Apart from raising prices, many domestic buyers have attempted to get the Red to commit to an exclusive buying contract with them and have encouraged high-interest loan commitments to prevent large scale sales capabilities (we are too much in debt to afford to buy enough cacao independently to fill a container). However, the price wars are just starting in this harvest, beginning in December. The idea is that if the domestic buyers raise their buying price, we will be less likely to seek external exporting capabilities. Also, as we export more, the domestic buyers see us less as a supplier, and more as competition, and have started using other intermediaries to get the cacao out of the communities. This means that we have to meet their buying price for the farmers so that we don't lose cooperative members to the competition. However, these organizations are much bigger, have huge contracts and connections in the government to facilitate export and make exporting harder for us (we have recently run into a few previously unheard of paperwork fees) with the hopes of running us out of business or keeping us as a supplier. As of now, the price of unprocessed cacao in the community 4200 pesos per quintal plus a 500 peso fermenting cost, not including transportation costs.
Just to give you an idea of how cacao works over here:
In 2001, cacao was sold at 400 pesos, and by 2003, the price of cacao was less to nothing in the DR, and the quality wasn't any better. I am going to discuss the prices in pesos, which are 33 to the dollar. Cacao was worth 900-1500 pesos per 50 kilo sack in 2003, and the only people farmers sold to were local community members who had an empty house for storage. Then a domestic buyer would come by in a truck and buy it from the community members for about a 3-500 peso profit. At this point there was no market for fermentation, so all cacao was sold dry. Also, a lot of the more rural cacao farms were unable to get buyers for the cacao because there wasn't any way to get into the communities, and the price wasn't worth it to bring it down on horseback. The Red (meaning network) was created by a group of farmers to organize their cacao production and try and find a domestic buyer to help get more sales to the remote (and poorest) areas. In 2003, this was great for domestic buyers, because it was easier for them to get the cacao, and they were paying the same prices as they would anyway. Then in 2005, the Red was sponsored by USAID to go to an agricultural fair in Brazil, where they met cacao buyers from Europe and the USA, and started learning about high quality organic markets and the benefits. So in 2006, the Red got its first year of organic certification, paid for by one of the domestic buyers, Yacao. With this certification, it caused the prices to rise up to 2700 pesos per quintal (50 kilo increment), but all of the cacao was still sold to Yacao and Conocado. Then in the fall of 2006, USAID sent another group of farmers to the Biofach conference in Baltimore, where they made contacts with Taza Chocolate and Dagoba. Through these contacts, we began selling small increments through air freight to Taza, and began discussing financing options for a container shipment to Dagoba in conjunction with the World Bank. Dagoba is a big buyer from Conocado and Rizek, and it seems that upon making these contacts the domestic buyers began seeing the cooperative as a threat to the cacao system here in the DR. Apart from raising prices, many domestic buyers have attempted to get the Red to commit to an exclusive buying contract with them and have encouraged high-interest loan commitments to prevent large scale sales capabilities (we are too much in debt to afford to buy enough cacao independently to fill a container). However, the price wars are just starting in this harvest, beginning in December. The idea is that if the domestic buyers raise their buying price, we will be less likely to seek external exporting capabilities. Also, as we export more, the domestic buyers see us less as a supplier, and more as competition, and have started using other intermediaries to get the cacao out of the communities. This means that we have to meet their buying price for the farmers so that we don't lose cooperative members to the competition. However, these organizations are much bigger, have huge contracts and connections in the government to facilitate export and make exporting harder for us (we have recently run into a few previously unheard of paperwork fees) with the hopes of running us out of business or keeping us as a supplier. As of now, the price of unprocessed cacao in the community 4200 pesos per quintal plus a 500 peso fermenting cost, not including transportation costs.
Peace Corps... Really?
Some days I wonder if this is really Peace Corps. My job is to export cocoa beans. I spent the whole afternoon downloading accounting software. After 3 visits to Claro (mobile phone carrier) we finally purchased a wireless internet card so the Cooperative finally has internet. These things don't really mesh with my idea of "Peace Corps". But as I was riding back from Nagua I looked at the mountains that surround my village- they are breathtaking in the late afternoon light... and I'm totally content. They say that you can never judge one Peace Corps experience from another; each situation, country and person is different.
I just started reading The World is Flat and I couldn't be in a better position to see the evidence of flatness. My community is working on an aqueduct to bring water down from the mountain. A few weeks ago I went with a group of six men from the community to see the water source for the aqueduct. We hiked for about an hour through a small creek, most all of the men carried machetes and one man went without shoes. It was amazing to see how they were going to take the force of this small body of water and transport it to our community. It really makes one appreciate when you turn on the faucet. Other than a one of many hikes I've been on here, the point of this story is that on our way back we were walking through rain forest and one of the men got a call on his cell phone from his wife. That's probably the difference between the volunteer who was here years ago and me...
I just started reading The World is Flat and I couldn't be in a better position to see the evidence of flatness. My community is working on an aqueduct to bring water down from the mountain. A few weeks ago I went with a group of six men from the community to see the water source for the aqueduct. We hiked for about an hour through a small creek, most all of the men carried machetes and one man went without shoes. It was amazing to see how they were going to take the force of this small body of water and transport it to our community. It really makes one appreciate when you turn on the faucet. Other than a one of many hikes I've been on here, the point of this story is that on our way back we were walking through rain forest and one of the men got a call on his cell phone from his wife. That's probably the difference between the volunteer who was here years ago and me...
domingo, 2 de marzo de 2008
Typical Conversation
Dominican man: Hello. How are you?
Me: Well, thank you. How are you?
Dominican man: I'm fine. (1 minute pause) Are you married?
Me: Yes. (For female volunteers is better just to say yes regardless...)
Dominican man: Oh... do you have children?
Me: No.
Dominican man: Oh... you should find yourself a Dominican to marry.
Me: Ah... (polite chuckle) thank you but I'm fine with one husband, I don't want another.
Dominican man: But why? You can have one here and he can have one there in New York. (In the DR they refer to the entire U.S. as New York. They will ask "what part of New York are you from?" and I say "California.")
Me: Well, thank you. How are you?
Dominican man: I'm fine. (1 minute pause) Are you married?
Me: Yes. (For female volunteers is better just to say yes regardless...)
Dominican man: Oh... do you have children?
Me: No.
Dominican man: Oh... you should find yourself a Dominican to marry.
Me: Ah... (polite chuckle) thank you but I'm fine with one husband, I don't want another.
Dominican man: But why? You can have one here and he can have one there in New York. (In the DR they refer to the entire U.S. as New York. They will ask "what part of New York are you from?" and I say "California.")
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