FairMatch Support is trots op haar aandeel aan deze nieuwe lijn. Vanuit de samenwerking in de Africa Cashew initiative kwamen in 2010 de eerste Fairtrade cashewnoten op de markt. Daarna is, samen met onder meer ICCO, gewerkt aan een totaal assortiment duurzame noten. De pinda’s en walnoten uit deze nieuwe Jack Klijn serie komen uit FairMatch Support programma’s in Latijns Amerika, de cashew en de Macadamia’s uit Afrika en de amandelen uit het Midden Oosten. Ruim 20.000 boeren in meer dan 9 landen zijn hierbij betrokken.

Het zijn de eerste volledige traceerbare en duurzaam geproduceerde noten op deze schaal. Op dit moment wordt hard gewerkt aan verbreding van de aanvoer. Nederlandse bedrijven, waaronder TDG, Intersnack en Albert Heijn, spelen een belangrijke rol in het verduurzamen van de notensector. Dit gebeurt in nauwe samenwerking met en ondersteuning van organisaties als OLAM en IDH.

Vorige week konden wij August Boudo, directeur van betrokken verwerkers Anatrans /Genese in Burkina Faso als een eerste de Jack Klijn cashew aanbieden.

Klik hier voor een link naar het bericht op de Lidl website

Het consortium wil onder meer bereiken dat het inkomen van ongeveer 375.000 Afrikaanse boeren verbetert en dat in 2015 tenminste 20% van de Europese invoer uit duurzaam geproduceerde en verhandelde noten bestaat. Hiervoor zijn de ketenpartners zelf een innovatief project gestart waarbij duurzaamheid hand in hand gaat met het verbeteren van de productkwaliteit, de kwantiteit en het rendement in de hele keten.

Het cashewnoot-consortium bestaat uit de volgende partners:

• Olam International:  www.olamonline.com
• Trade & Development Group (TDG): www.tradedevelopment.nl
• Intersnack: www.intersnack.com
• Ahold: www.ahold.com
• Chainfood: www.chainfood.com
• IDH: www.idhsustainabletrade.com
• FairMatch Support

Meer informatie over de duurzame cashewnootketen vindt u op:  http://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/cashew

In the past 25 years a range of certification systems were developed to stimulate the supply of sustainable goods. Early movers like Organic and Fairtrade were followed by other, more mainstream oriented initiatives like Rainforest Alliance, UTZ and many more. These systems created a lot of improvements especially with regard to social and environmental issues. Consumer demands for these products are still growing.

All these certification systems were set up in a so called buyers market in which buyers set the rules. If you want to supply your product, you will have to fulfil the buyers’ requirements. Meanwhile a code and certification industry has been established. External, often expensive, inspection systems control whether every actor complies.

But the market is changing rapidly from a buyers’ to a seller’s market. Emerging economies (BRIC and others) have a growing middle class with increasing buying power. As a result the pressure on current resources is growing. With a growing demand, producers now have a choice whom to sell to. And why comply with rigorous requirements and extra costs if you can sell your produce elsewhere for the same price?

This creates a complete new situation. Instead of social and environmental issues, productivity becomes the first key issue to take care of. Buyers become interested to co-invest in production to allow increase of production and quality to safe guard their future supply ánd meet the growing demand. The first steps to achieve those goals can be done with relatively low investments. This is a huge opportunity for producers, especially in developing countries.

So, the legitimate question is whether the certification systems that were set up in a buyers’ market are suitable to address needs and opportunities in a sellers’ market? The rules en regulations of these systems do not primarily focus on quality and quantity. In a buyers’ market certification is creating opportunities for those who can comply. But in a sellers’ market they add costs and deteriorate the competitiveness of the western buyers.

Considering all this, new systems need to be developed in which traceability and management information systems are first of all focused on productivity. This should become an internal system of the supply chain actors themselves. It creates options for joint investments within the sector and therefore creating strong alliances with huge opportunities to move towards production improvement and captive supply. These new systems could be supplemented with key requirements on sustainability. In fact, systems like this already operate in a range of settings, but need to be adjusted to commodity markets as well.

In the cashew sector key actors made the analysis to set up a different system with support of IDH (the Sustainable Trade Initiative). Instead of at random buying of producers, buying is organized, structured and data are collected: what is bought from whom, at what quality? etc. Incentive systems are set up to stimulate the farmers and create a competitive atmosphere to improve productivity. At the end of the season those data are shared and discussed with farmers, and farmer training are adjusted to needs.

The data are shared in the supply chain as well, through a jointly used hub and spoke system with agreements on which actor can see what (aggregated) data. The supply chain actors jointly invest in the system because improvement is a joint benefit.

In fact, the system develops rapidly. While it started with recording productivity data, after the first experiences sustainability data are incorporated as well. Step by step a complete supply chain management system is developing; from field to shelf.

Major challenge will be to look for acceptable control mechanisms for compliance.

Will this development mean the end of the current systems? Probably not, because there is a market for certified products. But the mainstream market will explore and develop new solutions in this changing setting.

Of course all this won’t happen over night, but there is a need for a new direction.

Herman uit de Bosch,  founder and director of FairMatch Support

January 21, 2013

Centraal staan onder meer de cashewboeren in Ghana en Burkina Faso die via de programma’s van FairMatch Support cashewnoten leveren voor de ‘Puur & Eerlijk’ lijn van Albert Heijn.

Klik hier: Allerhande ‘Meer Doen’ pdf

FairMatch Support is the implementing partner of the Cashew program of IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative.

The IDH cashew program is a private sector driven program in which Ahold, Intersnack, OLAM and The TDG group, participate. The program will be implemented by FairMatch Support in coordination with the private sector and IDH.

IDH accelerates and up-scales sustainable trade by forming impact oriented coalitions of front running multinationals, civil society organizations, governments and other stakeholders. By convening the interest and strengths of different actors in the supply chain, IDH creates shared value for all partners. This will help make sustainability the new norm and will deliver impact on the Millenium Development goals. (www.idhsustainabletrade.com).

The IDH cashew program envisions the economic and social development of cashew value chains while preserving natural resources. The cashew program aims to improve the quality and quantity of raw cashew nut production, creating an (socio-)economic impact on smallholder farmers and strategic linkages between cashew value chain actors. Linkages between cashew farmers, the African processors and the Western-end buyers. The focus will be on the development of smallholder aggregations around processors in Africa.

The IDH cashew program will lead to improved livelihoods for smallholders, better working conditions at processing level and increase in quality and quantity of cashew. It closely cooperates with the African Cashew Initiative (ACI).

The program starts in Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast and is expected to expand to 5 other countries after the pilot year.

NRC artikel 17 november 2011 ‘Een weeshuis van Albert Heijn’