Lurdes Pineda is a goldenberry farmer in Ventaquemada, Colombia, and has been working with Terrafertil for 6 years. Lurdes’ first contact with goldenberry came several years before that, working first as a goldenberry harvester. Seeing the benefits from those who she was working for, Lurdes decided to invest in goldenberry herself. She remembers that “..I started with a small plot of 700 plants (less than half a hectare), and it has gone so well that today I have three plots totaling 2.5 hectares to maintain a constant production of goldenberry income year-round”.
Lurdes affirms, that ‘..what I like about working with Terrafertil is the stability of the price. This means I know how much I can earn. On top of that, the quality requirements by TerraFertil for the fruit are clearer and easier to manage compared to complex classification systems for other fresh Goldenberry exporters. The income from Terrafertil goes directly to savings that Lurdes saves for important occasions, or for other investments that require capital. For example, “…I used savings from goldenberry to fix my house, as well as buy implements for goldenberry cultivation, including a motorized fumigator.