On January 14, 2000, Victor Hugo Carranza, SalvAide’s past Executive Director, participated in the official opening of the mill facilities built with support through SalvAide’s project “Support to Organic Sugar Producers”. Other participants of this simple yet significant event included the beneficiaries of the project, NGO’s working in the region, the mayor of Cinquera, and journalists from two newspapers of El Salvador.

The activity was organized by the Cordes Foundation with the goals of presenting the commercial brand of the brown sugar (“El Trapiche”) and to explain the process of producing this 100 % natural product. According to Hector Martinez, Cordes coordinator in the region, the inaugurated mill makes up part of a network of producers including two other similar facilities.

The three mills already have the capacity to process more than 500 thousand kilograms of brow sugar per year. In the first stage, the producers' network, in coordination with Cordes, plan to market the brown sugar locally in quantities of one or fifty pound bags. In the long run, they intend to expand to overseas markets.

Through this project, SalvAide and Cordes Foundation hope to help improve the livelihood of peasants routinely excluded from economic development opportunities. The implementation of agroindustrial projects, such as this one, provides producers with a feeling of empowerment and an opportunity to generate income. This project is also significant because it allows producers to learn about and apply organic crop techniques, and value the importance of natural products.