MOPA

Following his success with SOFA, MOPA was established by our chairman in 2010, and is currently the largest small farmer group that supplies to Bio Foods. Initially, the “marginalized” producers were the small and medium scale producers who underwent difficulties in obtaining a justifiable price for their produce in the market without the interference of a middleman. These producers were educated and mobilized (by Bio Foods, of course) on the concepts and procedures of organic and biodynamic agriculture, and organized into societies (or ‘blocks’) according to their geographical distribution. Now, as part of a certified organic & fair trade producer organization, they are dedicated to environmentally friendly farming practices, respecting the local ecological ethics, enriching the soil structure, uplifting the biodiversity in farmlands, and ultimately increasing productivity. With established producer societies around the country, their outreach covers 24,400 acres to date, with about half of the land being certified organic, and the rest being in-conversion to organic with the assistance of Bio Foods.

Throughout this process, over 10,050 farmer families stand to gain as beneficiaries. Of these families, most members are now involved in farming either full time or part-time. Women are particularly encouraged to join these projects, to empower women of rural communities. Today, we have farmer groups spread over 6 regions of Sri Lanka (Central, Uva, Wayamba, Down-South, North-East & Western provinces), all of whom are ambitiously seeking their way towards sustainability, using organic, fair-trade practices as means to this end. This is what makes MOPA one of the biggest small farmer groups in Asia. MOPA flocks and guides these farming communities with the genuine intent of bringing the producers and sophisticated end-consumer closer together.