On April 15, 2015, a group of 11 individuals from the La Giganta mountain range met at Rancho Matancitas, located in the municipality of La Paz, Baja California Surto talk about the challenges faced by the many rural communities in this region of the peninsula, where life is not easy.
They were concerned about the social development of their towns, but they also considered the conservation of natural resources to be important, so they saw the need to organize themselves to increase the potential for finding alternative solutions to the problems they faced as a productive region.
Thus, on May 4 of the same year, the company was legally constituted Sustainable Producers Sierra La Giganta A. C.The objective is to apply an integral model of economic development through the sustainable use of natural resources and the preservation of the region's cultural heritage.
For the benefit of all
Productores Sustentables Sierra La Giganta A.C. provides advice, planning and the necessary linkage to regional producers to detonate economic development.
Manuel Amador, one of the founders, is the president and legal representative of this organization.
"We are a group that has products and sometimes we have difficulties to sell them, we have put a lot of effort into this association so that we can also have more ways to seek support from the government, for the benefit of all producers in the entire highlands region and neighboring places," he says.
In the communities of the Sierra La Giganta, the inhabitants produce a variety of handmade and traditional products, ranging from sweets, jams, liqueurs and honey, to blacksmithing, saddlery, basketry, embroidery, stone carving and the production of regional plants in two nurseries, which made it necessary to launch a marketing project.
They have their own brand
This is how Comercialización de Productos Rurales was born, which has generated voluntary and direct marketing channels between producers and end consumers.
In 2021, they were able to achieve the registered trademark "Hecho en Rancho" (Made in Rancho)which is the distinctive used by Productores Sustentables Sierra La Giganta A. C. for their products, with which they reach the city of La Paz and the entire market that represents the state capital.
"With this we seek to avoid intermediaries, to value artisanal and traditional production processes that are aimed at sustainability," explains the group.
The "Hecho en Rancho" brand distinguishes products whose quality, process and characteristics were produced in a traditional and artisanal way in the ranches of Sierra La Giganta. The producers who apply for this brand are committed to maintaining good quality, as well as traditional and sustainable uses in production.
"This has generated up to a 300 percent increase in profit for the producer, a valorization of traditional practices and environmental benefits in each production process," the organization points out.
Manuel Amador emphasizes that this is a sustainable rural development model that contributes to environmental and social development.
"One of the things, because we are organized, another thing, because we are also people who are putting our products in a point of sale, it is not the same as where we are, up in the mountains," he says.
The objective is to facilitate linkages with the private sector and government institutions for the sale of regional products at fair prices.
Tourism, another development alternative
Viajes Gigante is a project initiated by Productores Sustentables Sierra la Giganta A. C. through which the ranches of the region benefit from the use of cabins that belong to community groups and private owners, in addition to which the inhabitants are employed as cooks or tour guides.
The profits produced by Viajes Gigante are reinvested to finance sustainable productive projects.
An idea that was born with the meeting of 11 inhabitants of the region today represents more than 2,500 people from 600 families of the Sierra La Giganta, all seeking development, but with respect for the environment and its natural resources.
