Conscious Food from Bolivia - Family Farming products at the Malmö Fair in Sweden

Sustainable agriculture, Trade
16.11.2022
The Centre for the Promotion of Exports to the Swedish Market (OTGS) and the Swedish and Swiss Cooperation in Bolivia, through Inclusive Markets, support their entry into the Scandinavian region. United through the concept: Andean Valley, Coronilla, Green Forest and Sindan Organic participate in the most important Nordic Organic Food Fair in Europe, offering their products in three areas: live cooking, where a chef prepares and describes the ingredients, the business meeting and tasting area, and the product and packaging exhibition area.

Among the various products on offer are royal quinoa and chestnuts, whose export potential has the necessary organic certifications, obtained by the companies with the collaboration of a public-private alliance that promotes the continuity of agroforestry practices and family farming in Bolivia.

The participation in the fair is part of a medium-term cooperation strategy between the Centre for the Promotion of Exports to the Swedish Market (OTGS), as a comprehensive support centre of the National Board of Trade in Sweden, which facilitates trade agreements with developing countries, and Inclusive Markets, a project implemented by Swisscontact in Bolivia. OTGS provides information on legal requirements, standards, and market trends needed for a company in order to bring its products into Sweden and, thus, into the European Union.

Mercados Inclusivos promotes the insertion of family farming (medium and small scale) in Bolivian agri-food systems based on three themes: agroecology, conscious consumption and social inclusion. The project also strengthens synergies with allies such as the Chamber of Exporters (CADEX), the Bolivian Chamber of Exporters of Organic Quinoa Products (CABOLQUI) to recognise, encourage and promote ancestral and organic family farming, both in domestic consumption and export markets.

Alimentos conscientes de Bolivia is an advertising concept that identifies Bolivian products from all ecological levels that come from organic family farming and the harvesting of fruits from the Amazonian forests, valuing the contribution of indigenous populations to global food security and environmental care.

"We are sure that the information presented here will awaken the interest (of the Scandinavian markets) in this biodiverse country, the heart of South America, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, whose traditions and genuine concern for nature, the Pachamama, marked its past, present and future.  "
Jenny Kopper, The Food Collective, one of the creators of the concept in Sweden

The alliance between OTGS and Mercados Inclusivos reached an important milestone last October, when a delegation from Sweden visited the Bolivia. Fourteen companies were interviewed, concluding trade agreements that value the origin of ancestral crops such as royal quinoa and others of agroforestry origin such as chestnuts, Chiquitano almonds and sesame.

Bolivia
Sustainable agriculture
Inclusive Markets in Bolivia
The main objective of the program is "to improve the living conditions of the target population by helping them reduce their poverty situation". The purpose is "to increase the opportunities, capacities and income of the target population".The Inclusive Markets project is implemented in Bolivia with funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and...