Producing more is only part of the journey: selling better matters too. With that aim, the FONTAGRO-supported project carried out a binational study of business relationships in the bean value chain and organized two public-private forums and two binational business roundtables to promote investment and public policy. UNAG in Nicaragua and ARSAGRO in Honduras received business training in strategic planning, costing, financial literacy, ethics and transparency, and now apply business models for beans and maize.

In Nicaragua, the Northern Alliance was born, bringing together the UNAG branches of Estelí, Madriz and Nueva Segovia and the COOSENUP cooperative, with collection and financing funds of USD 80,000 from INTERTEAM and USD 23,000 from ANF. The alliance created the brand “Suavecito el Norteño”, with labels for beans and maize, and 402 families from 26 community seed banks sold red beans through formal and informal contracts. The team proposes incorporating the “Passing on the Gift” methodology into public programmes such as the productive and technology vouchers, to reach more families at lower cost.

📄 Results presentation, 14th Annual Technical Monitoring Workshop 2019 (PDF, in Spanish)
📄 Final technical report (PDF, in Spanish)
🔗 Project page (in Spanish)