Colombian sweet potatoes to Europe

“We are positive that there is room in the market forsweet potatoes from Colombia” starts Boy Stuijfzand, Chief Operational Officer at Fairtrasa International. Fairtrasa is in the last stage of a new projectwith Fairtrasa Colombia. From March/April onwards sweet potatoes will be exportedfrom Colombia to the Netherlands.

“We already started a few years ago in collaborationwith the Colombian government organization Corpoica (Corporación Colombiana deInvestigación Agropecuaria)”, explains Boy. “We have established partnerships with25 smaller producers that are resettling in the North of Colombia. Theyreceived a piece of land on which they will grow sweet potatoes for us. Aftermany tests we decided the orange flesh sweet potatoes is the crop that wouldperform best in this region. Then again we had a trial period, but for example focusedon logistics and the shelf life of the products. One of the advantages of thelocation is that production fields are nearby the harbour.”

Boy continues: “We noticed that there is a good demandfor sweet potatoes, even though American sweet potatoes are being exported tothe Netherlands as well. The Colombian sweet potatoes should be in addition to thesupply of other countries. First we only grow and export conventional sweetpotatoes. After the many trials and experimental periods, we are sure we candeliver good products.”

“Eventually our goal is to get this project in linewith the overall mission and vision of Fairtrasa. We are aiming to achieve asteady growth that eventually results in export of conventional and organicsweet potatoes with fair prices for the producers,” concludes Boy.