Sustainable Initiatives
with all actors across the supply chain, including farmers represented. The updated Cocoa Standards support cooperatives to comply with upcoming regulation such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EU-DR), whilst also striving to take the responsibility of compliance away from farmers themselves so they are not burdened with additional cost. Our new partnership with Satelligence complements this aim. It will enable us to scale up satellite monitoring of forested areas to all certified cocoa and coffee farms to meet EU-DR requirements, but crucial to the partnership is that cooperatives will have access to their own satellite data. Data ownership is key to market access, so this partnership is a great example of how we are adapting to market needs in a way that best suits farmers’ interests.
Your recent report emphasises an urgent call to action for businesses, the UK government, and campaigners. Can you elaborate on the specific actions you believe are most critical at this juncture? The 30th Anniversary Report emphasises the need for urgent actions. In summary, we are calling for: •
Businesses: Modernise sourcing practices to be more sustainable and transparent and increase commitments to purchasing Fairtrade products.
• Government: Implement policies that promote fair trade, combat climate change, and address deforestation and human rights abuses in supply chains.
• Campaigners: Continue to hold corporations and governments accountable and promote Fairtrade products to ensure wider consumer support.
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How are Fairtrade producers mitigating the impacts of climate change, and what role do sustainable agricultural practices play in these efforts? Fairtrade producers are actively mitigating the impacts of climate change by adopting sustainable agricultural practices. These include the use of agroforestry, organic farming methods, and water conservation techniques. The Fairtrade Premium funds are often used to invest in climate adaptation projects, such as diversifying crops to reduce reliance on vulnerable
28 Kennedy’s Confection June 2024
monocultures and implementing technologies that improve resilience to extreme weather events. For instance, in Ghana, Fairtrade runs
the Sankofa project to promote dynamic agroforestry practices with cocoa farmers. With dynamic agroforestry practices the risk of further deforestation can be mitigated and biodiversity in forests can be promoted. This also contributes additional income to farmers and promotes food security. Farmers trained through Sankofa report earning between 25 and 125 percent more thanks to the additional cash crops they have planted and a much lower mortality rate for cocoa trees of only 10 percent, saving money and time in replanting. Another example of how Fairtrade has supported vulnerable farmers and producers to mitigate against the impacts of climate change is through the FACSA programme (Fairtrade Alliance for Climate Smart Supply Chains in Africa). It currently supports 12 producer organisations in Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda. The programme, which is funded by Co-op, has been designed in partnership with producers to help increase their knowledge of sustainable agriculture land management practices to boost productivity and reduce water consumption and carbon footprints. Producers have also introduced environmentally friendly income generating activities and enterprises
to diversify their incomes and protect themselves against climate shocks, such as establishing coffee, fruit and indigenous tree seedling nurseries as well as briquette production from waste products like leaves and coffee husks.
Fairtrade has supported over 2 million producers, benefiting around 10 million people globally. Can you share some specific examples of how Fairtrade has transformed livelihoods and communities? The Fairtrade Premium is one key intervention which benefits whole communities, not just individual farmers. The Premium is paid to cooperatives on top of the price for their crops and collectively they decide how the money is spent. This means funds can be distributed at the community level and has been used to build schools, improve local transport, and provide education grants to cooperative members’ families, to give a few examples. We’ve heard directly from the Director of a new school in Cote D’Ivoire who told us that the Fairtrade Premium helped them to secure the finance they needed to build the new school, meaning children no longer had to travel as far. Another important element of Fairtrade’s
work is the free training and support for farmers offered by Fairtrade’s producer networks. One of the focuses of this training for cocoa cooperatives is to improve gender equality; women play a critical role in
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