Unión Nacional Agropecuaria de Productores Asociados

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The Unión Nacional Agropecuaria de Productores Asociados ( UNAPA ) is a national Nicaraguan association that unites smallholders, ranchers, forest farmers, fishermen, traders and service providers in the agricultural sector in a cooperative and self-determined form of organization, thereby enabling members to achieve and achieve economies of scale Get access to technology. The aim of UNAPA is to make its members, regardless of their origin, religion, political orientation or gender, more competitive and to develop them economically.

UNAPA is an autonomous and independent organization based in Managua . The two-part model consists of the following sub-areas:

  • Cooperatively organized and self-determined farmers and cooperatives
  • Commercial enterprises

In order to join UNAPA, it is necessary to be active in one of the target groups (cooperatives, production centers), to do voluntary work or to give financial support. Donations are used to finance the association's projects.

Origin and structure

The roots of UNAPA lie in the smallholder association movement, which emerged from a project by the ATC (Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo). In 1994 UNAPA was recognized as a legally independent non-governmental organization. Its highest body is the Asamblea General, which is composed of 20,000 cooperative workers, members of cooperatives, directors, managers and technicians. The executive bodies of UNAPA are the Central Office and the National Board.

Structure of the UNAPA

Independent producers who are not part of a cooperative are grouped together in regional associations.

aims

  • Strengthening of land ownership rights for small food producers (especially support for rural women)
  • Organization and marketing of cooperatives and producers in the agricultural sector
  • Promotion of the participation of small producers in the exercise of popular rule at all levels
  • Assistance in financing business operations, development and technology transfer projects, training courses, community projects, sustainable development projects and other unconventional forms of financing
  • Promotion of Fair Trade system's MERCAMPO (direct marketing from producer to consumer)
  • Promotion of productivity improvements, quality improvements as well as vertical and horizontal integration in economic projects, with the aim of increasing the added value and robustness of production in the primary sector (agro-industrialization)
  • Call for environmental protection with municipal participation and promotion of sustainable production systems, soil and forest protection as well as organic cultivation and biological processing

Activities and production potential

MERCAMPO
Fairtrade system (direct marketing) (MERCAMPO)

The UNAPA is committed to strengthening cooperative associations, establishing the federation of farmers' cooperatives FECAMPO (Federación de Cooperativas Campesinas) and marketing via the MERCAMPO fair trade system. The members of UNAPA have a combined total of 17,473 hectares of arable land, 14,163 hectares of pasture land and 13,977 hectares of forest. Commercial production focuses on coffee, rice, tobacco, sesame, soy, peanuts, millet, maize, cane sugar, shrimp, milk, cattle, meat, grain, roasted coffee, agricultural input products and organic farming.

swell

  • Broshure. UNAPA, 2011.
  • homepage . Retrieved May 21, 2011.