African Fairtrade cashew in 761 AH shops!

From the 25th of October, after 3,5 year of work, 'our Fairtrade cashew' will be on the shelves of 761 Albert Heijn shops in The Netherlands. A serious milestone for all of us who have been involved in this process.

Africa is the major producer of cashew in the world. About 2.5 million farmers are involved in the production. Most of them small farmers. Unfortunately about 90% of the trade is exported raw to India and Vietnam to be processed there and re exported to the rest of the world. Farmers do not get good prices and the added value is not benefiting Africa.

That was the reason we decided about 3,5 years ago, jointly with the nut importer Global Trading, to organize farmers, link them to local processors and create a more direct linkage to the market. By using the Fairtrade seal farmers would have an incentive to team up.

After 1,5 years our work was noticed already and our efforts were taken into a major multinational project funded by both the private sector as well as donors like GTZ/Bill&Melinda gates Foundation and Dutch funding agencies like ICCO and HIVOS.

In the course of the past years about 15.000 farmers are organized now in various co-operatives. One in Burkina Faso, 2 in Ghana and 2 in Mozambique. Have of them are certified as well. In the course of the coming two years we plan to reach over 45.000 farmers.

Last year the first groups in Ghana were ready, but no market was found yet. Early this year, just before the season was starting in West Africa, an agreement was made between Albert Heijn, the roaster Intersnack and Global Trading and FairMatch Support for a first but major pilot.

The season was used to link 3 co-ops to local traders, local processors and finally linked to the end market. Easy on paper, but difficult in practise realizing neither of actors was used in collaborating with each other.

But they did and the result can be seen on the shelves in the coming months. A first but major step in the cashew industry; complete traceable cashew nuts, directly out of Africa with a fair benefit for all actors in the chain.

A successful pilot that will will be continued with the produce from Mozambique where the season for farmers is about to begin...