Asháninka Livelihood Support

Jeto means “spider” in Asháninka, the women chose the name because spiders are such good weavers.

The cooperative of eight women is set to double in size with further training and awareness raising. They’ll sell woven textiles and jewellery to river traders to increase their income. Our Peru Project coordinator, Alix Silva, is providing them with training in promoting their products to sell further afield and help them develop products made with traditional techniques that will appeal to the tourist market.

During a knowledge exchange trip in 2017 the Jeto group met artisans from the Awajún partnership, and learnt from their experience of setting up their own successful cooperative, AMARNO. One member can spin thread from locally harvested cotton and will teach the others how it’s done. They will also learn how to plant and harvest cotton as a sustainable crop. Diversifying the income streams available to our Asháninka partners creates robust livelihoods.

Six new varieties of coffee were planted in 2016. This should significantly increase the yield when they mature in 2019, and provide resilience to some of the destruction caused by El Niño and deadly coffee diseases such as yellow rust.

In 2016, a Peruvian buyer was appointed to maximise the price the community receive for their coffee. COINCA, the buyer, is interested in purchasing the coffee again this year, presenting an opportunity for the growers to engage in face-to-face meetings with the company, developing their business and finance networks.

Plans for the future include training a new coffee promoter for the village of Parijaro. This area is perfect for growing coffee due to its high altitude, but it’s quite a way for the current promoters to travel. The new promoter will be trained by current staff to help improve the quality of the crop.

The world’s best chocolate comes from beans that grow under the forest canopy. This makes cacao a great crop for building incomes and protecting forest.

In 2015, fermentation boxes, cacao stores and dryers were installed so that the whole village can use them to produce higher quality beans. We are now hoping to develop business and financial skills amongst the producers, enabling them to access local markets and ensuring the long-term future of their livelihood. In order to develop capacity, we support the growers to set up links with local, Peruvian companies. The first step is the sale of the lower quality injerto cacao to a local cooperative called Pangoa. The growers will get a fair price and will be able to attend meetings themselves.