AgroFair is a fresh fruit company that is 30 per cent owned by farmers in Africa and Latin America. The ethical supplier imports Fairtrade mangoes grown by Lamine Koulibaly from UDPFK (Union Départmentale des Producteurs Fruitiers de Koloko), who was featured last week. The firm introduced the first Fairtrade fresh fruit into Europe 13 years ago and its products are now sold in 14 European countries and the US.
Founded in 1996 by Dutch development organisation Solidaridad, AgroFair imported the world’s first Fairtrade banana under the Oké brand into Europe in 1996. The organisation is still passionate about the rights of workers in Latin America and about improving the way that the banana industry is run financially, environmentally and socially.
“Fairtrade must not be the exception; it should be the most normal thing in the world and the way we do business,” says Clive Marriott, commercial manager of AgroFair UK. “Fairtrade provides market-friendly mechanisms to improve the livelihoods of producers in developing countries.”
Since the early days, AgroFair has grown in size and stature as an importer and distributor of organic Fairtrade and Fairtrade tropical fresh fruit. As well as co-owning the company, farmers are represented on the board and at annual shareholders’ meetings and receive a share of the profits. The firm provides producers with support on the ground through technical assistance for sustainable environment.
Farmers groups are from Argentina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Morocco, Mexico, Peru and South Africa. AgroFair buys all of its products directly from the producers or their organisations, without the intervention of intermediary buyers.
This part development, part commercial approach, while striving to keep prices commercially competitive, is what differentiates the supplier and why retailers such as The Co-operative sell their produce in store, Marriott claims. “The Fairtrade system ensures that producers receive a guaranteed minimum price,” he says. “This is used for a fair rate of pay, safe labour conditions, greater security of supply and quality improvements. Adherence to the Fairtrade rules and regulations guarantee that the money is spent in the way it was intended.”
AgroFair, as the importer, pays the agreed Fairtrade price when buying their fruit. This must be either at or above the agreed price, together with an additional premium for investment in social projects.
This is audited by both the Fairtrade Foundation and FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International), the international body comprising the Fairtrade Foundation and its partner organisations around the world. FLO has overall responsibility for developing Fairtrade standards, supporting producers and operating global certification and auditing systems.
“Fairtrade is about ensuring the businesses move from simply complying with standards to a deeper commitment to the overall Fairtrade system,” says Jane Snell, business development manager for fruit at the Fairtrade Foundation. “This is where companies such as AgroFair and Univeg really excel.Their commitment to ensuring we are able to take the Fairtrade model to scale and truly transform trade in favour of the poor and disadvantaged is key. We have more than 85 producer groups of fresh fruit supplying the UK, including bananas, and our aim is to help these groups sell a greater proportion of what they grow via the Fairtrade system, as well as open the door for more producers to come into the system.”
Marriott agrees that Fairtrade is about all the parties working together. “For AgroFair, Fairtrade is about being part of a partnership that connects producers to the retailer,” he says. “Through producer visits, buyers get to see and understand what impact buying from one Fairtrade-certified farmer group can have not only on the farmers themselves, but on the development of the community.”
The economic downturn has forced AgroFair to adapt, but not dilute its values.
Univeg, based in Spalding, Lincolnshire, supplies Fairtrade tropical fresh fruit to the likes of Asda and Morrisons. A fresh produce supplier for the last 20 years, the move to convert some of its products to Fairtrade was spearheaded by Geoff Chappell, the company’s Fairtrade and organic manager, back in 2004.
“Two farms that we were sourcing from had been awarded Fairtrade certification,” he explains. “We saw that there was a market for a Fairtrade category and, if we were going to supply Fairtrade products, then we might as well do it well.” One of these farms was Bomarts Farms, which was the other Fairtrade producer group featured last week.
Univeg, like AgroFair, very much sees itself as a Fairtrade pioneer. The firm is aware of the social and environmental issues associated with the products that it sources and sells, particularly as a large proportion of its fresh produce supplies originate in developing countries. It held consumer listening groups before launching its Fairtrade category to find out what people knew about Fairtrade and their expectations. “We found that Fairtrade has a strong group of grassroots supporters and realised that more and more people would follow because of the message behind Fairtrade of a fair price, and supporting a community,” explains Chappell. “When Asda first added the Fairtrade category to its tropical fruit range, it did not reduce conventional sales, but added value to the category, which was exactly our vision.”
The company, which also provides conventional fresh fruit products, has a turnover of €3.2 billion (£2.8bn) and more than 9,500 employees worldwide. It is different to AgroFair in that the company is a grower, as well as exporter and marketer. Today, it has more than 40 Fairtrade-certified producer groups that it sources tropical fruit from including mangoes, pineapples, citrus, avocados, grapes and plums. Within the Fairtrade category, its range includes 13 different types of fruit from producer groups in Africa and Latin America.
Univeg has plans to develop new Fairtrade products and is looking for new producer groups to extend supply seasons of some of its current Fairtrade range. Chappell also says the real joy he gets from working with Fairtrade-certified producers is seeing the impact on communities. “Clean drinking water, new hospital buildings and medical supplies are just some of the ways I have seen the premium invested,” he says. “When I first started Fairtrade, it was for commercial reasons, but what I like about Fairtrade is it goes beyond supporting livelihoods; it’s about building communities and transforming lives.”
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