Technology and Rural Development in a Base Economic Organisation: 'El CEIBO' Ltd., Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives

This paper analyses the case of a federation of thirty-six cocoa producing cooperatives in Bolivia. It is one of the strongest and most successful economic organisations in Bolivia. It is also one of the most successful cases of small farmer organisation around technology generation and product transformation and marketing in the Andes. The paper discusses how this programme has emerged, and factors that have favoured its success. The paper and the larger study indicate some of the ways in which the strategies and impacts of economically-based organisations differ from those of more traditional, representative and politically-oriented small farmer organisations.