Wal-Mart - Small but fertile

Ethical Corporation, 16 Feb 2009 

Wal-Mart's adoption and adaptation of a farmers' capacity-building programme in Central America shows the big retailer can think small

José Méndez and his wife, Martha, used to scrimp a living harvesting cushaws (winter squash) from a seven-acre plot. Over the past three years, they have quadrupled their land under cultivation and turned their hands to growing a wide variety of vegetables. Even better, they have a guaranteed purchaser for their produce: Wal-Mart.

The US retail giant entered the Central American market through the acquisition of local supermarket group Central American Retail Holding in 2006. As part of the deal, it inherited a farmer assistance programme dating back more than three decades.

The Terra Fértil (fertile land) programme offers technical expertise and business management advice to more than 5,000 small farmers. It also provides producers annual contracts at a fixed price, enabling farmers to plan ahead. With a contract in hand, farmers traditionally excluded by credit providers can obtain business loans.

Full article at http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=6339