Koshicoop Cooperative promotes its tradition of to grow and sell plantain without agrochemicals in domestic markets. 
 

Located in the districts of Masisea and Iparía, in the jungle of Ucayali, there are three indigenous communities of the Shipibo-Konibo people that have managed to maintain their agricultural practices over time to grow plantains without agrochemicals and sell them at a fair price. These are the native communities of Utucuro, Nueva Ahuaypa, and Puerto Grau. 
The communities are associated with the Shipibo-Konibo Agroforestry Cooperative (Koshicoop), founded in 2019, which benefits more than 80 families of these communities located seven hours by river from the city of Pucallpa in boats with outboard motors.  
This indigenous enterprise is carried out on 300 hectares, achieving a monthly production of three thousand to five thousand bunches in a sustainable way with the Amazon, protecting its forests. They have direct buyers in Lima city who sell plantains in capital markets, such as La Parada, and Huamantanga. The commercialization by theirselfs has better results and prices. It means higher income for Koshicoop's members. They also supply this Amazonian foodstuff to restaurants and residents of Pucallpa, contributing to the economic development of Ucayali. 
Rolando Escobar Chávez, Koshicoop’s president, says: "The cooperative was created to provide facilities to our indigenous brothers who live from agriculture and who could not find a market for their plantains. The collectors paid them very little and did not compensate them for the production costs. With Koshicoop we are finding markets at a national level with a fair price so that our members can improve their income. We are also looking for markets for the other economic activities that are produced to improve the quality of life of the people in the communities. 
 

Produce and improve the quality of production 
As part of the project Amazon Indigenous Rights and Resources (AIRR), implemented by WWF Peru, the Asociación Interétnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana (AIDESEP) and NESsT, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in 2022 the cooperative got an economic fund to improve its administrative activities and increase its entrepreneurship, in addition to having a technical team to optimize its work in the crops. 
Edith Condori, forestry specialist in WWF Peru, says: “the indigenous economy is based on diversity, expertise and ancestral knowledge. Koshicoop is an initiative that has been implementing this economic model to empower the Shipibo-Konibo peoples of the Ucayali region with the objective of developing their productive chains, valuing their available and exploited resources in their communal territories. In this way, they ensure their environmental and cultural conditions in a sustainable way.” 

 

Koshicoop is an example of associativity among Native Communities to conserve their ancestral knowledge and, at the same time, achieve an economical development sustainable with the Amazonia and the environment where they live and develop their daily activities. 
 

More information about Koshicoop 

Please contact Rolando Escobar at +51 983584561.