UNAPA

The Unión Nacional Agropecuaria de Productores Asociados ( UNAPA ) is a national Nicaraguan Association, the small farmers, ranchers, foresters, fishermen, merchants and service providers together in the agricultural sector in a cooperative and self-determined form of organization and allows members in this way, to achieve economies of scale and to gain access to technologies. The aim of the UNAPA here is to its members, to make regardless of race, religion, political affiliation or gender competitive and to develop economically.

The UNAPA is an autonomous and independent organization. The two-tier model consists of the following sections:

  • Cooperative and self-determined farmers and cooperatives
  • Farms

To join the UNAPA, it is necessary to engage in one of the target groups ( cooperatives, production centers), to volunteer or to give financial support. Donations are used to fund projects of the association.

Formation and structure

The roots of UNAPA are the small farmer union movement, which grew out of a project of the ATC ( Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo). 1994 UNAPA was recognized as legally independent NGO. Your highest body is the Asamblea General, which consists of 20,000 cooperative workers, members of cooperatives, directors, managers and technicians. The executive bodies of the UNAPA are the Central Office and the National Executive Board.

Self-employed producers who are not part of a cooperative shall be grouped in regional associations.

Objectives

  • Strengthening country ownership rights for small food producers (in particular support of rural women )
  • Organizing and marketing cooperatives and producers in the agricultural sector
  • Encourage the participation of small producers in the exercise of popular sovereignty at all levels
  • Support for financing of business operations, development and technology transfer projects, training, municipal projects, sustainable development projects and other unconventional forms of financing
  • Promoting Fairtrade system MERCAMPO ( direct marketing from producer to consumer )
  • Promotion of productivity improvements, quality improvements and vertical and horizontal integration in economic projects, with the objective of increasing the value and robustness of the production in the primary sector (agro industrialization )
  • Request for environmental protection under the local participation and promotion of sustainable production systems, soil and forest conservation as well as organic and biological processing

Activities and production potential

The UNAPA advocates the strengthening of cooperative associations, the establishment of the Federation of farmer cooperatives FECAMPO ( Federación de Cooperatives Campesina ) and marketing on the Fairtrade system MERCAMPO one. The members of the UNAPA have put together over 17473 hectares of arable land, 14,163 acres of grazing land and 13,977 hectares of forest. The focus of commercial production are in the areas of coffee, rice, tobacco, sesame, soy, peanuts, millet, maize, sugar cane, shrimp, milk, livestock, meat, grain, roasted coffee, agricultural products and use organic farming.

Swell

  • Broshure. UNAPA, 2011.
  • UNAPA 's homepage. Accessed on May 21, 2011.
  • Economy (Nicaragua )
791583
de