Peasant enterprises in Salinas, Bolívar province

A farmer in our country is the one who has the most difficulties to undertake, due to the lack of financing, technical support to translate their business ideas and, above all, due to the difficulty of access to important markets.

Young people in rural areas may have all the necessary attributes to carry out their initiative: leadership, responsibility, organization, ability to adapt to change, but if they do not have the necessary resources to build and develop their projects, they cannot move forward.
While in the cities, local governments or private companies create spaces or communities for "entrepreneurship and innovation", with incubators, mentorships and seed capital, the peasant bets on creativity, risk, opening paths in an adverse environment with requirements and regulations that slow down the development of their initiatives, limiting them to coexist in informal markets.

young entrepreneurs

One of the essential characteristics of Salinas de Bolívar since its inception and up to the present, is to bet on entrepreneurship. Small experiments were conceived on the ground floor of Father Antonio Polo's house and little by little they took shape, strength and became a reality.
The townspeople learned and took risks to produce, to give added value to local raw materials. Not all experiments were successful, many failed and thus resources were wasted. Trial and error has been and is what we always do when we decide to start with a new challenge or product.
Some things have worked and are still around for more than four decades. It is important to recognize that initially there was technical support and resources, as a result of which we have the emblematic cheeses. Now, with its own resources and capabilities, the chocolates, sausages, threads and other products that are part of the Salinerito brand are gaining ground.
But not only ventures led by organizations are the ones that work. The productive ecosystem of Salinas gives opportunity for family or personal initiatives to arise, proof of which are the tourist services: hostels, restaurants, tour operators and guides, events for extreme sports...many of these managed by young people from the town.
In the high communities, between 3,600 and 4,200 meters above sea level, several small enterprises are also germinating, replicating the initial experiences of Salinas, they make cheese, sausages, nougat, hand-woven garments.
Rural communities that learned to find their own market, to create and define their brand, to manage and market. Empowered peasant women and men opening their space in the world of entrepreneurship.
On weekends, several tents are located around the central square of the parish seat of Salinas in a small fair, there the young people of the town and the communities exhibit and sell their products and novelties to the tourists who visit us weekly.
In this small rural fair you can find all kinds of products: liqueurs, jams, dehydrated fruits, granola, craft beer, essences, soaps, wool and cabuya handicrafts, aromatic herbs, ointments, balls, ceramics.
Most of these products cannot grow and expand through formal markets, because in Ecuador there is a need to strengthen public policies and programs focused on supporting young farmers. Many good ideas and experiments fail due to lack of support.
From El Salinerito, we seek to articulate with alternative promotion ventures through the points of sale and the e-commerce platform, but not all products that have good growth potential have the legal requirements for their commercialization.
The pandemic is teaching us that one of the great strengths of a country is in the countryside, where food is produced and the land is cared for. With comprehensive attention to the farmer, the peasant can change many realities in a positive way.
Motivation, will and patience is what Salinas transmits to you. The total replicability of this experience can be complex, but starting with something is undoubtedly the first step for you to dare to undertake.

Discover the wide variety of products we have visiting our online store.

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