terra-agricultural-cooperative
Terra Cooperative serves as the social enterprise wing of Environmental Defenders, ensuring financial sustainability for the organization while directly empowering a network of over 50,000 farmers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This initiative addresses climate resilience, financial inclusion, and sustainable agriculture by connecting farmers to critical resources and markets.
terra-agricultural-cooperative
Terra Cooperative serves as the social enterprise wing of Environmental Defenders, ensuring financial sustainability for the organization while directly empowering a network of over 50,000 farmers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This initiative addresses climate resilience, financial inclusion, and sustainable agriculture by connecting farmers to critical resources and markets.
Vision and objectives
Agricultural techniques and financing
We encourage the use of climate-resilient agricultural techniques among members and producers, as well as providing agricultural financing and loans to producers and members.
Sustainable productivity
We support market-oriented agriculture among members, increasing their production and farm productivity by facilitating access to quality, affordable inputs, technologies, and credit for production, as well as processing and adding value to members’ products to access high-value markets and secure better prices for the cooperative’s products.
Collective marketing and cooperative business models
We organize, facilitate, and support collective marketing among members and establish market links by integrating warehousing, bulk collection, and storage management, as well as promoting and engaging in business and development partnerships that advance the market-oriented business model of cooperatives and contribute to achieving the cooperative’s goals.
Environment preservation and safeguard biodiversity
We assist members and producers to effectively manage climate threats, preserve the environment, restore lands and endangered species to safeguard biodiversity and the climate. We promote tree plantations to combat climate change and improve weather conditions, ensuring adequate rainfall for agricultural production, as well as establishing carbon credit/carbon price sales from existing or planned tree plantations.
Focus crops and products
Terra Cooperative supports diverse crops and products, including:
Coffee, rice, cotton, cocoa, cassava, pineapples, beans, mangoes, peanuts, maize, onions, bananas, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, milk, green vegetables, as well as fish and animal products for the domestic and global markets.
These efforts cater to both domestic markets and international exports, providing farmers with multiple income streams and fostering economic growth.