In the Peruvian Amazon, the banana value chain is one of the most relevant. A production of between 30 and 40 million tons per year is estimated, of which 30% is classified as 3rd category, with no possibility of sale. Until recently, this banana was destined for self-consumption or was discarded. Vegetable waste from the plant was also discarded. Within the framework of Work4Progress and thanks to the support of the CODESPA Foundation, two circular economy projects led by indigenous youth are now transforming waste into employment and sustainability.
Since 2017, the »la Caixa» Foundation’s Work4Progress program promotes the generation of quality employment in Colombia, India, Mozambique and Peru through social innovation and systemic change platforms. Since the start of the program, more than 44,000 jobs have been created and more than 21,000 businesses have been launched.
Through CODESPA, the development of 15 prototypes has already been supported in Peru. Luis Cáceres, director of the entity in the country, affirms that being part of Work4Progress has allowed CODESPA to advance in its objective of “developing initiatives that help people who are in a situation of vulnerability to go from a state of poverty to a state of prosperity”.
They achieve this by searching for “disruptive solutions” that allow them to generate profitable, viable and sustainable businesses that promote positive change in the territory, from an economic, environmental and social point of view.
It all starts with an idea that arises in the first phases of the Work4Progress methodology, listening and co-creation together with local communities, which aims to respond to their needs with innovative solutions that take advantage of existing opportunities in the territory.
“In the listening and co-creation phases together with the Amazonian communities of the province of Condorcanqui, in northern Peru,” explains Cáceres, “we detected great potential in banana cultivation that was not being used. 30% remained for the producer’s own consumption or was discarded. While investigating, we saw that they could be dehydrated and turned into flakes and then sold to companies that produce other products, such as flours or granules. “This is how dehydrated flakes emerged, an innovative product that recovers that surplus and provides added value to the banana value chain.”
Plant waste in biofiber
They also observed that plant residues, which represent 60 to 70% of the total weight of the plant, were completely wasted. “With the support of several academic institutions,” details the CODESPA representative, “we saw that they could be converted into biofiber: the fibers from the banana stem are extracted to be used as raw material in the creation of jewelry or fashion accessories.”
Both prototypes of the circular economy are critical in the Amazon due to the climate context itself, which affects production and creates the need in the community to find employment alternatives.
According to Hannah Stutzman, independent expert in environmental management, “the integration of programs focused on poverty alleviation is essential for climate change mitigation and adaptation because it is the most marginal people who will suffer the most from its effects.
On the other hand, it is very well documented that Amazonian communities are the most efficient guardians of the forests. “So creating the conditions so that they can continue there is an investment in the fight against climate change because it promotes long-term forest conservation.”
“Part of the power of the Work4Progress approach is the generation of networks and its ability to involve multiple actors, public and private,” adds Stutzman. «Only in this way can the necessary conditions be generated to improve the resilience of communities and create long-lasting income opportunities for local people.
In addition, projects are promoted that in themselves reduce carbon emissions, generate circular economies and promote products generated in a sustainable way,” he says. In this way, the program uses multiple approaches to contribute to efforts against climate change.
In the case of Peru’s circular economy projects, they are innovative and sustainable prototypes in every sense. The resulting products recover raw materials that were previously discarded. Through co-creation with academic institutions, Amazonian communities and the Work4Progress program in Spain, pioneering technologies have been developed that allow all processes to be carried out with renewable energies (photovoltaic, specifically).
The director of CODESPA in Peru adds: «In addition, a value chain has been created that did not previously exist in the territory and that makes it possible to improve the lives of the families who dedicate themselves to it. Finally, there is also innovation in terms of the capabilities of the population itself, who, upon seeing the potential of the products, have been trained in new techniques and methodologies and processes previously unknown to them.
Young natives
Both projects employ young natives of the Awajún ethnic group, who have populated the Amazon for a long time. “Of them, between 40 and 50% are women, which fills us with enthusiasm and motivates us to continue promoting the development of their capabilities so that they become the main actors in entrepreneurship,” says Cáceres. CODESPA has the objective of training and training young people so that over time they become autonomous and can take the reins of business.
12 young people are currently working on the banana flake prototype, and about 8 or 10 on the biofiber prototype, who are already participating in national fairs to show their product to increasingly larger companies.
A biofiber processing plant led by the community itself was recently installed in a native community and, in the case of dehydrated flakes, Cáceres explains that they are also about to install their processing plant to produce double or triple that amount, since they are seeing that there is a very large market that they can supply.
The long-term goal is for these ventures to become small businesses managed by local people, with established markets, and to generate a multiplier effect within the communities. “The idea is that young people can scale the businesses and even replicate them in other communities, and apply the same methods not only in the banana industry, but also in the cocoa, coffee and other Amazonian products,” he says, convinced. the director of CODESPA in Peru.
#Young #people #Amazon #transform #bananas #sustainable #biofiber
