Ally Guayusa: Organic Guayusa Tea

Aliados is working with Ally Guayusa, an indigenous-owned guayusa export association with the goal to maximize benefits to farmers from the guayusa supply chain. Aliados supports this ground-breaking community enterprise build management and governance capacity, finance infrastructure costs, certify agroforestry systems (organic and kosher) and with international marketing. The association’s farmers are committed to the association’s business strategy, producing organic guayusa that complies with international specifications. Ally Guayusa is creating local jobs, provides direct benefits for farmers without destroying the forest, and exemplifies the power of best practice business innovation for sustainability in the Amazon.

Impact & Positive Change

1. 40 hectares of guayusa under organic production

2. State of the art processing facility with 800 kg p/month production capacity

3. Sustainable income generating activities for 140 farming families

4. Product diversification incorporating wild jungle peanuts and macambo into regenerative farming systems. Ally Guayusa earned over $10,000 from jungle peanuts in 2022, and are scaling up this new product in 2023.

Reforestation

Aliados works with indigenous-led farmer associations to restore degraded forests, conserving biodiversity, and improving livelihoods. Our reforestation strategy is to, firstly, increase socio-economic resilience to climate and market variation. Our tree selection considers a variety of native species that have utility for the community and economic value that can support food security and generate revenue. We employ a strategy of intercropping trees with short-term crops that respond to farmer’s immediate needs. Non-timber forest products support food security as well as diversifying revenues, when accompanied by training and business development support. Secondly, to support ecological resilience, the majority of the trees from our selection provide seeds and fruit that attract fauna, birds and insects, responding to less reliable seasonal fruit bearing from a changing climate, and expanding migration corridors.

What We’ve Accomplished So Far:

1. More than 30,000 seedlings from 20 different native species have been planted.

2. Increased habitat connectivity for large mammals and birds over a region of 42 hectares in the megadiverse Amazon basin. 

3. Participation from 90 different farming families.

Natural Colorants

Achiote, also known as annatto, is a tree native to South America that has been used as a natural colorant since pre-Columbian times. Achiote grows well on degraded pastureland, with high potential to increase farmer income and ecosystem resilience overall. To create new opportunities for farmers, we are working with achiote distributors in the multibillion dollar natural colorants market to connect them to local farmers. Aliados is partnering with a global leader in the achiote supply chain, to establish a 30-hectare pilot with smallholder farmers in the Ecuadorian amazon. We are currently undertaking an R&D project to asess the value chain dynamics and economics of establishing achiote as an income generating crop for indigenous communities in the Amazon.

Wild Cinnamon

Ishpingo (Ocotea quixosis) is a variety of Amazonian cinnamon with high anti-radical and anti-pathogen properties, that has never reached the market. Its leaves have high concentrations of cinnamaldehyde attractive either as a tea or an essential oil. Similar to guayusa, ishpingo is a small tree that thrives in biodiverse agroforestry systems, and is commonly found in indigenous forest gardens.

Our Goal With Ishpingo:

1. Aliados is working with Tsatsayacu to replicate the success of RUNA with guayusa, setting up the first-ever organic, fair trade ishpingo supply chain.