Consumers of Cochabamba

Lead Organization:

Instituto Para el Desarrollo Rural de Sudamérica

Partner Organizations:

NGO Ciudadanía, will handle the ecological food supply side of the project; Other key collaborators include local popular fairs, neighborhood organizations (OTBs), educational units, and the groups that will receive competitive funds for communication campaigns.

Community of Practice:

Andes

Countries:

Bolivia

Duration:

1/2025—1/2028

Overview:

In the past 7 years, during the EcoConsumo project, many learnings were collected with which this project starts. For example, it became evident that ecological farmers, in their role of consumers, eat their own production, whether organic or conventional, because they do not have enough information about the effects of pesticides on health and the environment.

Consumers, on the other hand, in the fairs where they were exposed to communication campaigns and an information stand, maintained the demand for organic foods, just as if they were in a pandemic scenario. Unlike consumers at fairs where not all project actions were implemented, they had high demand during the pandemic and when it passed they reduced significantly their consumption and demand (2023).

However, it has not been possible to measure whether this demand from exposed consumers generates permanent changes.

What is evident is that consumers highlight concern about individual and family health, they are interested in information about the effects of pesticides on health. The most important form of communication through which they receive information is “boca a boca”, which is generated specially by family members and in the proximity to fairs by consumers who live less than 1 km away.

Normally, agroecological food is called “chemical-free” and natural food. They also have heuristic indicators (such as the characteristics of the AE product, the appearance of the stand and the producer/seller, and the origin of the food), which they permanently use to recognize agroecological foods, followed by the trust in the product and in the knowledge of the producers and, thirdly, other actions such as differentiation, certification and communication campaigns (digital media and information and stands at fairs).

In the EcoConsumo project, the work with territorial organizations such as OTB and other allies that could generate innovative and effective initiatives was not enough explored.

On the other hand, there is also a growing group of deniers and promoters of “biotechnology, productivity with pesticides who argue that there will not be enough food availability in the world without those technology.” Its message is very powerful and it is necessary to study their strategies to reach consumers to use them in favor of the project.

Popular fairs, as explored in EcoConsumo project, are spaces in which organic or “natural” food has the same price as food with pesticides, which is why they are spaces that need to be supported to democratize organic food for any socioeconomic stratum of the population. 

The radio and social media communication campaigns had an effect (around 5%), but not as broad as expected, so it is necessary to explore other types of incidence using the existing communication channels and communal systems in use by the neighborhoods and territories.

Grant Aims:

The project aims to increase the consumption of agroecological (AE) foods in Cochabamba by leveraging neighborhood communication systems, enhancing consumer knowledge about the health impacts of pesticides, and utilizing innovative communication campaigns. The project will also study the effectiveness of involving civil society groups in creating communication campaigns and the role of local influencers in promoting AE foods.

Outputs and Outcomes:

Outputs

  1. Neighborhood Communication Systems: Identification and involvement of influential people in neighborhoods to disseminate information about AE foods using “boca a boca” communication.
  2. Art and Music Events: Implementation of AE-related interventions in art and music events through allied influencers.
  3. Information Stands at Fairs: Measurement of the effects of information stands at popular fairs over a two-year period to assess their impact on consumer demand for AE foods.
  4. Consumer Studies: Development of quantitative instruments to study consumer behavior, knowledge, and demand for AE foods.
  5. Study on Communication Strategies: A study on the messaging from agrochemical and agribusiness companies to strategize how to counteract these messages and promote AE consumption.

Outcomes

  1. Consumer Behavior Change: Increased consumer knowledge of AE food production and commercialization, leading to an increase in AE food demand.
  2. Community Engagement in Communication Campaigns: Creation of communication campaigns by organized civil society groups, demonstrating greater involvement and lasting effects compared to externally created content.
  3. Deconcentrated Mobilization: New learning experiences and methods for territorial mobilization and communication through local “neighborhood journalists” and other community actors.
  4. Competitive Funds Impact: Evaluation of the effectiveness of communication campaigns implemented by organizations using competitive funds, with a focus on involvement and sustainability.