Karoob
Cooperative
Carob Activity Cooperative
exclusively for women
An initiative to lift rural women out of precariousness, support for family farming, market access for small farmers, and the consumer’s right to quality, healthy and wholesome food.
Agriculture that respects people and the environment, independent organization of small producers.
Grouping women producers into cooperatives not only improves product quality and preserves the resource, but also structures the industry and gives it institutional recognition, thereby enhancing the value of the finished product on the formal national and international markets.
The challenge
Get craftswomen out of the informal trade so that they can register and benefit from social security and pensions. “It’s a necessity for them. In rural areas, according to custom, they have no resources.”
The current informal marketing of Carob limits yields and the benefits derived from them, maintains the persistence of poverty and encourages pressure on the natural resource.
Another of our cooperative’s main objectives is to add value to the fruit, from which we produce gluten-free flour and locust bean gum, both of which are highly prized by the food industry.