The successful program has benefited many farmers in different areas of the country. One of them is Viveros Merliot, a family business that was founded in 2002 with the desire to offer salvadoran families products that provide benefits to the consumer, as in the case of the soybean sprout, a food with vitamins, potassium and fiber that started the family business located in Opico. 

The interest in diversification of the Viveros Merliot family led them to investigate the planting of sweet corn, a product that, according to Ovidio, Administrator of the nursery, contains proteins beneficial to human consumption and with which they found a new business opportunity through the acceptance among their consumers.

For several years, Vivero Merliot marketed its products through visits to stores, until one day, they found the opportunity to join the Walmart chain, a company that from the beginning provided them with support, advice and training on various agricultural topics.

In the beginning, they delivered products to the Despensa de Don Juan stores and, in 2005, they extended their production to the Walmart format. Currently, they supply approximately 200 boxes with products such as soybean sprouts, sweet corn, endive, chives, and elotito, generating work for 23 people in the area.

"Walmart guides and helps us with technical advice and training on good practices. We hope to maintain this relationship because they are the basis for us to grow", says Mr. Ovidio, manager of Viveros Merliot.

"We are very pleased to work hand in hand with Viveros Merliot, who are part of the Tierra Fértil Program, which was created to reduce dependence on imports of agricultural products, promoting agricultural efficiency, safe products and protected environments through advice and training", said Sandra Cáceres, Walmart's Corporate Affairs Coordinator in El Salvador.

For the representative of Viveros Merliot, the key to maintaining a successful relationship with the company is to be guided and instructed by the chain's specialists, in order to offer and deliver good quality products to customers.

Walmart is a company that promotes local production through its Tierra Fértil program, benefiting more than a thousand salvadoran families and generating employment in salvadoran communities.

To date, 60% of the fruits and vegetables found in all the chain's stores come from salvadoran farmers.

Translated by: A.M