The best limes and a flourishing local community

Our collaborations are fruitful in more ways than one. A prime example is our lime project in Colombia. Our collaboration with local farmers has not only produced beautiful crops with the highest possible organic integrity, the local economy and quality of life have also improved with leaps and bounds. In a small number of years!

Nariño, the province where we entered our partnership, has a history of illegal cultivation, social instability and unemployment. The region is isolated and far from the big cities. The government decided to intervene by providing the locals with lime trees which they could grow legally. However, there wasn’t a clearly defined plan behind this action and the lime harvest lagged too far behind to become a serious competitor in the local market. OTC Organics contacted these growers and offered them the opportunity of working together on organic production as from 2017.

✓ Flourishing local economy

✓ Better quality of life

✓ Source of employment

What followed was a phase of intensive preparation, analysis and exploration that soon delivered results. In the very same year, 2017, the first growers obtained the certification needed for exporting their produce to Europe. Since then, some sixty farmers have received their certificates. And we can supply our customers with organic limes all year round. The local economy is flourishing, the quality of life has improved and a permanent source of employment has been created.