Juicing Justice: Developing a fairer fruit juice supply chain in Senegal
Land in the remote region of Casamance in southern Senegal is rich and fertile, but all too often, farmers and fruit collectors lack the necessary power in the market to benefit from this – a situation only worsened by exploitative middlemen.
Members of a women’s association make juice out of ditakh fruit.
Credit: Traidcraft Exchange/Ricci Shyrock
Farmers and fruit collectors have formed into groups with more representative leadership, and are now engaging in transparent negotiations with their local business partners. As a result, their business partners are reporting improved efficiency and assured supply, and their income from the three target fruits of baobab, ditakh and madd has increased by 31%.
Traidcraft Exchange is now working with a leading juice formulator to develop a new range of export-quality juices, which will provide the farmers and fruit collectors with access to new, higher-value premium markets.
Project name: Juicing Justice for Farmers
Where are we working? Southern Senegal; Casamance region; Bignona district
How long for? 1 April 2016 - 1 May 2020 (4 years)
Who is benefiting? 2,200 smallholder Senegalese farmers (880 women, 1320 men)
Project aims:
To enable 2,200 extremely poor smallholder farmers to improve their agroforestry practices and improve their terms of trade for their highly sought-after indigenous fruits
To demonstrate how improved transparency in supply chains and fair trade practices can improve security of supply for local businesses
To enable smallholder suppliers to improve forest stewardship practices, enhance product quality and meet buyer requirements
To provide smallholders and their families with more secure incomes
Who are we working with? Our business partners Zena Exotic Fruits and Baobab des Saveurs, with funding from Comic Relief.
For more information about this project, please contact programmes@transform-trade.org