Comexa Foods of Colombia has agreed to purchase some 1,840 tonnes of chilli peppers harvested by 320 demobilized soldiers and other vulnerable population.
The chilli pepper production is part of IOM's Reintegration and Community Development Programme underway in the departments of Antioquia and Sucre and of the private/public sector initiative created in 2006 by IOM, the President's Special Advisor, USAID, and Argos Cement Company, the largest cement company in Colombia and the fifth largest in the world.
The purchase of the first year production is estimated at 1 billion Colombian pesos (some US$500,000). Comexa Foods is the main supplier of pepper for the international firm Amazon Pepper.
According to IOM's Chief of Mission in Colombia José Angel Oropeza, "the recent agreement signed by IOM and Comexa Foods and this important purchase will guarantee the programme's sustainability. This programme is vital because it is providing the support needed by the ex-combatants and other vulnerable persons to improve their living conditions and become self sustaining."
To date, almost 32,000 persons have demobilized under the peace agreements signed by the Colombian government and illegal armed groups.
Frank Pearl, Senior Presidential Adviser for Reintegration believes "this programme is the perfect business model that the Colombian government wants to implement throughout the country to support demobilized persons, their families and the communities."
The private/public sector initiative aims to involve the private sector, the international community and the Colombian government in order to develop activities that promote the economic stabilization of some 320 persons, a lot of them demobilized ex-combatants.
The initiative also includes a social component aimed at strengthening and consolidating social cohesion in the participating communities; a business component to improve competitiveness and promote alliances amongst the beneficiaries; an educational component that is providing some 1,200 children and adolescents access to computers; and an environmental component that has introduced environmentally-friendly agricultural practices.
IOM's past experience have proven that private-public partnerships are successful practices when providing assistance to vulnerable groups. IOM has carried out several programmes to assist demobilized groups in Kosovo, Angola, Haiti and Guatemala.
For more information please contact IOM Colombia, Jorge Andres Gallo, Tel: 57.1.594 64 10 ext. 142; Email: jgallo@iom.int