Social responsibility and sustainable production

Fruandes comes from the Spanish ‘Frutos de los Andes’ and means ‘Fruits of the Andes’. This is also the focus of the company of the same name in Ibagué, Colombia, around 200 kilometres west of the capital, Bogotá. Fruandes is a socially responsible company that has set itself the goal of distributing healthy, locally produced organic products in Colombia and internationally. By integrating smallholder cooperatives into the value chain, the aim is to achieve the greatest possible environmental and, above all, social impact. The latter is also a key priority in the processing operations in Ibagué: 70% of the 75 employees at the factory are single mothers, all of whom have permanent contracts. ​

A network in the Colombian Andes

The Fruandes network spans five departments in Colombia, comprising seven different cooperatives and more than 350 farming families. In accordance with strict organic quality standards, smallholders in the Colombian Andes grow mangoes, physalis, pineapples, bananas, dragon fruit (pitaya), sugar cane, cocoa and peanuts, which are gently processed in Fruandes’ production facilities.

Successful expansion and innovation

In 2017, with Pakka’s support, Fruandes was able to build a new processing plant in Ibagué and create additional jobs by increasing its capacity. Thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, the warehouse was also expanded and the packaging line modernised.

Today, Fruandes exports its organic products worldwide to countries such as Canada, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and the USA.

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