Yunus: Colombia can model social business in agriculture for the world

Bogota, Apr 29 (EFE). —  Muhammad Yunus, winner of 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of Grameen bank, the bank of the poor, said Colombia has a “historic opportunity” to establish a global model of sustainability in social business focused on resolving the issue of poverty in the agricultural sector.

“Everybody will come to Colombia to learn how this idea was taken forward, which a year ago was only on paper, but with technology and financing has already benefitted several families,” Yunus said on Tuesday while presenting the results of Campo Vivo, Colombia’s first venture into agricultural social entrepreneurship.

Campo Vivo was started in 2013 in Une locality, in Cundinamarca, after a proposal from McCain, the world’s leading producer of processed prefried frozen potatoes, earned the endorsement of the Yunus Social Business initiative.

The project, started with a 600 million peso ($249,000) investment, aims to improve the livelihoods of a group of potato growers, and increase their crop yields.

The first year results “record sales of 400 million pesos ($166,000) and productivity of 50 tons per hectare (1 hectare = 2.5 acres) against the national average of 20 tons,” Campo Vivo’s General Manager Mauricio Gambao told Efe.

So far, 120 people have benefitted from the program and their monthly income has reportedly increased from 320,000 pesos ($133) to 750,000 pesos ($311).

“At a time when the entire planet is suffering from food crises, a business like Campo Vivo is going to be crucial as it helps to mitigate a very serious and common problem like poverty in rural areas,” Yunus said.

“It’s important to support microbusinesses, as we do small and midscale ones, especially in rural areas, to promote inclusive growth, and contribute with resources that maximize their impact on sustainable development,” explained Carmen Sylvain, Canadian Ambassador to Colombia, who also announced her country’s support of the project.

McCain’s CEO for the Andean Region, Francois Simonpietri, said Campo Vivo had turned a dream into reality and is an article of pride for the private company, “because though there are problems and challenges, the satisfaction from helping people is incomparable.”

Simonpietri said he decided to launch Campo Vivo in Colombia “owing to the social conditions prevalent in rural areas” and to provide opportunities to people over and above the armed conflict.

The managers of the social initiative announced their intention to expand to other departments, including Boyaca and Nariño, within the year.