“We feel like superheroes on the front lines of battle. We know that many people are counting on us.”
In 2010, Zaura Muñíz decided to abandon her profession as an information systems administrator and dedicate herself to what she was excited about since she was little: the field.
Her experiences working organic agriculture outside of her country, the Dominican Republic, marked the path of her new passion and as soon as she returned to her land she began to get involved in the planting and marketing of organic products.
Currently, Zaura owns Terra Verde, a small organic vegetable and fruit supplier company located in the city of Santo Domingo, which is supplied daily by crops harvested by small farmers in the fertile town of Arroyo Frío, Constanza.
Zaura also supports family farmers in the productive articulation project run by FAO in various provinces of the country, in which family farmers grow vegetables in shade houses.
The challenges that this young businesswoman faces in the production of fruits and vegetables are closely linked to the work of small producers on the farm, ranging from lack of resources to weather factors, crops that are lost due to pests, crops that they fall behind and join the next one and then result in surplus production.
Zaura refers that, due to the perishable nature of fruits and vegetables, at all times they try, both on the farms and on the premises, to maintain adequate hygiene and handle the products carefully to minimize any risk to the consumer.
She confesses that even in the midst of the pandemic they never stopped working. “We feel like superheroes on the front lines of battle. We know that many people are counting on us. On the one hand, our producers who need to sell their crops and on the other, our clients to supply their food needs ”.
This entrepreneur currently feels hopeful despite the COVID19 pandemic. "After overcoming this great challenge, we have realized that there are few things more important in life than enjoying good health," she says.
Looking at her work in the future, Zaura would like to have public policies in support of small organic producers and related businesses, especially those that work with sustainable production.
This is why she is betting that the consumption of organic and local products continues to grow in her country and the rest of the world, since more and more people understand the importance of it to maintain health and to take care of the environment.