Socio economic dynamic of the “bijao” sheet, a sustainable artisanal wrapper

Abstract

The value chain acts as a catalyst for relationships between agents who interact in order to pursue common objectives. Value chains are constitutive elements of regional development strategies, providing sustainability within a geographical environment and bringing quality and reputation to their actors. Within the present study, an approach is made to a link within the production of the bocadillo veleño. Which recently received protected designation of origin status and thus there is a safeguard against imitations or similar products that are made outside the geographical area of interest. The municipalities of Vélez, Barbosa, Moniquirá, Puente Nacional and Guavatá, where guava producers, growers, and transformers of “bijao” sheet (Calathea lutea (Aubl.) E. Mey. ex Schult.), product wrap, the central subject of the writing, and bocadillo makers as final product are located. The study takes a sample of 16 farms in which the “bijao” is produced, all of which are located in the municipality of Moniquirá (Boyacá, Colombia), and have or have had some type of relationship with the “Association of bijaderos of the province of Ricaurte” (ASOBIJAO), as integrating agent, and where an approach is made to its socio-economic profile. Perceptions from the study, ratify the need to catapult these efforts that arise from an associative dynamic, which revolves around a product, with national renown, and with some markets established abroad; in which some families benefit, who with their ancestral knowledge, propose an artisanal added value focused on sustainability, since their seal is a natural wrapper of a product that still resists the use of plastic.