KardiaNuts - Pakka Foundation
P4G Theme
Food and Agriculture Value Chain
SDG
Status
Active
Countries of Operation
About
The KardiaNuts – Pakka Foundation partnership is paving the way for local farmers in Colombia to enter the cashew value chain and improve their incomes. It is also developing their capacity to employ climate-smart agroforestry solutions that build resilience, improve soil health and reduce emissions.
Investing in Impact
P4G has awarded the partnership with $311,390 in grant funding.
KardiaNuts owns a 1,200 hectare cashew plantation where it produces and processes jumbo cashew nuts for domestic and international markets. The business is the first organic certified cashew farm in Colombia and cultivates its own seedlings. It is self-sufficient in the production of seeds and grafts required to produce the cashew trees.
This self-sufficiency across the cashew value chain extends to its bio-factory where it produces fertilizers for the whole plantation. It also uses cover crops to aid soil regeneration.
The innovation in this business model is the inclusion of local landowners to help expand KardiaNuts supplier base. KardiaNuts enters contracts with landowners to help manage their farms for them. KardiaNuts helps plant, maintain and harvest land that would otherwise go unattended and in return, the landowners sell KardiaNuts their raw cashew nuts at fair trade prices. The business collaborates with the landowners to train them on regenerative agroforestry methods and involve them in the process of growing cashews.
KardiaNuts currently operates an additional 350 hectares under this arrangement. KardiaNuts currently produces about 71 tons of raw cashew nuts with plans to more than double production in 2024.
Pakka Foundation helps KardiaNuts maintain exporter relationships and ensures that the products meet high quality control and traceability standards. It will also help KardiaNuts develop an Environmental-Social-Governance strategy.
During the partnership period, KardiaNuts aims to raise more than US $1 million in investment, create 20 additional jobs and regenerate 300 hectares of land.
This partnership comprises the following partners: KardiaNuts (lead business partner); Pakka Foundation (lead administrative partner); Fundación Alpina; Agrosavia; Cashew Value Chain; Marañones Delta; Portfolio Verde; and Generation Carbon.
Partners
