FUNDOPO - Fundación Dominicana de Productores Orgánicos

The Organic Growers Dominican Foundation (FUNDOPO) is an umbrella organization of small producers, formed on February 17, 2007, to collectively produce high-quality cocoa and obtain better market prices. In the regions where FUNDOPO operates, poverty is wide-spread and communities rely on cocoa production as their main source of income. Families supplement their livelihoods with other crops for consumption and local market sales.

FUNDOPO has over 1,500 small and medium producers of organic cocoa from the regions of Villa ltagracia, Yamasa, Puerto Plata, Joba and Blanco Arriba, Nagua , Maimon and San Francisco de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. Through the production units, FUNDOPO unites farmers who live and grow cocoa in distant and mountainous regions, some where several major rivers originate. Through cocoa agro-forestry and conservation, the farmers of FUNDOPO play a key role in protecting the country’s water resources. A large part of the water supply for Santo Domingo, the country’s capital, originates from the regions in which FUNDOPO's cocoa farmers live.

FUNDOPO became Fair Trade Certified™ in 2005. They are governed by a representative body – called the General Assembly – which makes all cooperative decisions, including the uses of the Fair Trade premium. FUNDOPO’s board is further subdivided into several working committees including the Environmental Protection Commission, the Project Formulation and Monitoring Committee and the Premium Investment Committee.

FUNDOPO’s leaders claim great progress thanks to Fair Trade. Farmers are more aware of their role in the supply chain and are better informed to strategize and meet goals. However, scarcity of resources and lack of infrastructure may still, as other programs develop, keep the organization relying on its exporter.