Maximizing Our Community and Social Impact
Corporate social responsibility is a self-commitment that private enterprises voluntarily undertake to give back to their communities. As such, Farmfolio is committed to developing a business model that benefits not only our financial stakeholders, but also the environment and the communities that we serve. In doing so, Farmfolio’s spirit of wholeness, sustainable development, and honoring family traditions is kept alive by cultivating the land responsibly as well as by caring for the people that live around it and tend to it every day.
As our GP project continues to grow and move forward with great success, we have identified several key issues that can be addressed to the benefit of the surrounding communities. For instance, employment stability and access to education for young students have been two large challenges for families throughout the region for many decades. In this regard, Farmfolio’s innovative introduction of permanent crops to the region, including Colombia’s only certified nursery for organic Malayan dwarf coconut palm trees, is already making a difference for many. The Colombian department of Cordoba, home to Farmfolio’s GP farm, has a long history of agricultural development focused on cattle. Thus, by introducing organic coconuts, GP is taking a major step in developing a niche agricultural sector in Cordoba, which also represents a unique opportunity for the community where GP is located.
Farmfolio’s introduction of crops that are cultivated year-round and the building of additional water reservoirs on the farm already maintains a steady workforce throughout the year, which is not the case in farm’s devoted exclusively to cattle raising. In doing so, GP provides a larger degree of economic stability to its employees and the surrounding communities. By facilitating this positive economic dynamic year-round, Farmfolio’s agricultural and business activities allow heads of household, who would otherwise have to leave the region in search for work, to stay in the community. Likewise, GP’s activities help the families of employees throughout the region send their children to school in a more consistent manner.
This consistency is particularly meaningful for women and girls who have been traditionally sidelined in rural communities as it relates to formal education. By advancing socioeconomic growth in the regions and communities where Farmfolio operates, we strengthen the economic performance of Colombia’s agricultural industry and give our local workforce a valuable skillset that will allow us to continue innovating. Traditionally a forgotten and peripheral part of Latin American countries, by advancing the education of future generations in rural communities, Farmfolio is ensuring that a new generation of women and men who are passionate about the countryside are empowered to develop it properly.
As Farmfolio’s trendsetting and innovative way of practicing agroforestry by incorporating teak and coconut alongside cattle begins to bear fruit, the region is taking note. As previously mentioned, GP’s green coconut nursery is to be certified as a nationally denominated provider and other farms will soon start purchasing seeds from it. This next agricultural revolution will not only benefit the region’s economy and biodiversity, but, most importantly, its communities since coconut cultivation provides steady and year-round employment to populations that are at risk and in need.
Maximizing Our Community and Social Impact
In the immediate vicinity of GP live three families with some seven school-age children. Furthermore, amongst GP’s 40 employees, there is an average of three school age children per family. Therefore, as part of our social responsibility work surrounding GP, Farmfolio is considering several initiatives such as the inauguration of a community library within the farm. This library and study center would serve the nearby rural communities of La Julia, El Balsal, El Boche, and 10 de Febrero. Given the precarious situation of the primary schools amongst the communities and the lack of a primary school in La Julia, such a library would serve as a major driver for youth development and education in the region. Farmfolio has already identified some potential locations for this community library that are close to the farm’s entrance and the community’s access road.
For these projects, Farmfolio is actively looking for national and international partners as it seeks to develop social responsibility projects related to education around GP. Having assessed the communities’ needs, Farmfolio is now preparing a blueprint for the construction of such a library. Nevertheless, in order to finalize and execute this project, the right partnership needs to be established to ensure that the library is properly stocked and run to serve local students. Farmfolio is looking for a partner organization that can facilitate between two and four educators to staff its future community library at Ganaderia Pietrasanta (GP). These educators will provide educational assistance to an underserved rural community in the form of after-school tutorials, managing library and computer resources, and public family programs. Ideally, these staff members would commit to a minimum of six months working in the community, which would allow them to build meaningful relationships and have a real impact on local youth.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or ideas surrounding Farmfolio’s community work at GP. In the meantime, we will continue working hard for all of our stakeholders and will keep you informed of ongoing developments.
(Read more about Capitalizing on Latin America’s Hardwood Markets)