President of Guatemala backs agricultural co-operatives for rural development

​The President of Guatemala, Otto Pérez Molina, has praised agricultural co-operatives for the sector's contribution to the economic development of the country, especially in rural areas.

During a television programme broadcast from the agricultural co-operative Chicoj, Mr Perez Molina explained how the co-operative movement is responsible for 7.3% of Guatemala’s GDP.

According to the President, co-operatives generate 27 billion quetzals, the equivalent of USD 3.4 billion, each year. 

He described co-operatives as “a movement that develops more and more every day, that is growing and generating jobs, improving the lives of people in Guatemala, especially in rural areas”.

Mr Pérez Molina also highlighted that co-operatives help to improve the lives of women across Guatemala. There are currently 900 co-operatives in Guatemala with 1.3m members and around 43 per cent of these are women. “We have to support co-operatives and ensure they will continue to grow”, he added.

The President, who was joined by the executive director of the Confederation of Co-operatives of Guatemala, Rodolfo Orozco, and Leonardo Delgado, director of Fedecovera, said his government would continue to back co-operatives.

Coffee co-operatives faced a challenging year in Guatemal this year due to an outbreak of coffee leaf rust. In order to combat this, the government pledged 40m quetzals (USD 5 million) to help farmers fight the rust.

Although the most developed co-operative sector is the credit union one, agricultural co-operatives have a great potential to grow, said Mr Delgado.

Fedecovera, a confederation of 38 co-operatives, has become the main producer of forest products of Guatemala. To boost rural development, the confederation has developed a series of energy generation projects.

“Co-operatives are working with different government ministries. We have just signed an agreement with the Ministry for Agriculture to develop a programme that will help many small producers that grow cardamom,” said Mr Delgado.

Rodolfo Orozco also highlighted the sector’s great potential for growth. He said he wanted to see co-operatives taking part in discussions on food production and retail, as well as education and health. Mr Orozco added that Guatemalan co-operatives are working with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in the USA to assess how co-operatives could enter the energy sector.

Photo: President of Guatemala, Otto Pérez Molina, with Rodolfo Orozco and Leonardo Delgado at the agricultural co-operative Chicoj.