You can find out more about a pioneering banana co-operative at tonight's talk at Pure Ground Café, Aspire, Trinity Buildings, Dover Street, Ryde from 7pm.

BANAFRUCOOP (Cooperativa de Productores de Banano del Magdalena) is a smallholder banana producers co-operative located in the municipality of Zona Bananera, in the Magdalena department of northern Colombia.

Historically, this region has been very unstable and the theatre of armed conflicts involving revolutionary and guerrilla groups (FARC and EPL) have threatened the security of the community and, as a consequence, affected the productivity of smallholder farmers.

Julio's story
Julio Mercado Cantillo, 57, is a banana farmer and founding member of BANAFRUCOOP. He and his wife Alicia Martinez Ruiz, have eight grown-up children and 14 grandchildren who depend on the farm for their livelihoods.

Julio worked as a tractor driver before joining his father on the family banana farm in 1989 and took over the running of the farm when his father passed away in 1991. All of Julio’s brothers are also farmers.

Setting up the co-operative
After selling their fruit individually to a succession of companies, Julio and 25 other small-scale banana farmers recognised the need to join forces and form their own co-operative to increase the competitiveness of their produce, meet the technical demands of the international market, and enhance the sustainability of their businesses.

They also put in place the processes needed for Fairtrade certification, which was achieved in 2009.