The Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) will provide a $1,530,000 grant for a regional project to promote the use of geographical indications to add value to agrifood exports from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Like branding and other intellectual property mechanisms, geographical indications help differentiate and protect products. The information they convey helps consumers know not only about the origin of a given product but also the reputation, quality and characteristics linked to that provenance.
“The project aims to offer Central America’s agrifood sector an opportunity to compete in international markets by differentiating their products based on their origin and help local producers reap greater economic benefits,” said IDB project team leader Diego Arias.
Central America has seen some successful experiences in establishing geographical indications for coffee. The new project will take advantage of regional economies of scale and harmonize the legal and institutional steps the countries are taking on intellectual property rights to establish a basis for using geographical indications for other agrifoods.
The project will be carried out by the Regional Cooperative Program for the Technological Development of Coffee Growing (PROMECAFE) of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), based in San Jose, Costa Rica.
IICA, a specialized agency that promotes rural development, will invest $670,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to the project, with assistance from Central American coffee institutions and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI).
The MIF, an autonomous fund managed by the IDB, promotes private sector development in Latin America and the Caribbean, with emphasis on microenterprises and small businesses. In recent years it financed a regional project to assist small and medium-size growers in Central America improve coffee quality.