Uniespecies SA

Exporting high-quality Guatemalan vegetables

Guatemala

Fair trade

Trade in products that have been certified and carry a fair trade label. An example of this is a farmer’s cooperative that collectively sells its cocoa to a fair trade organization.

Green

Promotes and/or supports the protection of the environment. An example of this is an organic farming cooperative.

Uniespecies SA, founded in 1991, exports fresh vegetables (French beans, snow peas, sugar snaps, broccoli, courgettes and baby carrots) to the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany.

The organization buys vegetables from Guatemalan small-scale producers and adds value through washing, a refrigeration and packaging process, and exporting the vegetables.

Uniespecies and its suppliers are fair-trade certified. And the processing plant is certified under the protocols of British Retail Consortium (BRC), which sets very demanding norms and regulations for the industry.

Uniespecies has its own technical assistance department which provides assistance to farmers with respect to plant health, soil, fertilization and the certification process.

Oikocredit’s loan to Uniespecies is used as working capital, mainly for the purchase of fresh vegetables from local small-scale farmers.

Uniespecies SA has been an Oikocredit partner since 2010.