Impact Small-scale Farmers

Madagascar

KOMAN and COOPPVM

1442 family farmers
Product: Organic Vanilla

The two cooperatives with whom we source vanilla, KOMAM and COOPPVM, are situated in the UNESCO-certified Mananara Biosphere Reserve of Madagascar.  The area consists of rare, tropical rainforests in low-lying coastal areas providing a harmonious coexistence of people and nature. The traditional knowledge of the population and the humid, tropical climate of the rainforests provide the ideal basis for the best-tasting vanilla, known as Bourbon Vanilla due to its intense flavour.  This organic, fairtrade certified vanilla is a key ingredient to Camino’s 100g chocolate bars.

South Africa

Wupperthal, Cederberg Mountains

100+ family farmers
Product: Rooibos

In 1998, against all odds, Wupperthal Original Rooibos Co-operative was established. Wupperthal is a democratically organized group of small-scale farmers who have grown Rooibos in South Africa for generations.

The Wupperthal farmers were pushed off the most fertile land in the 1800s and later endured the apartheid era. They now grow food in the very dry, rocky soil of the Cederberg Mountains which presents a big challenge for most of their crops. With Rooibos, however, the slower growth and lower production of this plant have resulted in notably higher quality tea in the Cederberg Mountains’ environment compared to other Rooibos grown on the most fertile lands.

Today, 98% of Rooibos’ production is grown on plantations with white landowners, making Wupperthal a true gem in a rocky landscape.

Read more about Wupperthal on Equal Exchange’s Small Farmers. Big Change. Blog

Togo

Since 2019 Camino is sourcing cocoa beans from West Africa through Gebana Togo. Gebana works with two cocoa producer co-ops of smallholding farmers around Kpalimé and Badou in southern Togo: Scoops Procab and Scoop IKPA.

At an altitude of 300m to 700m cocoa trees grow in forests in the natural shade of larger trees. Farmers own areas of about 1 ha on average. The farmers harvest the ripe cocoa pods and cut them open to extract the cocoa beans covered with the pulp. The cocoa beans are then fermented traditionally in banana leaves and afterwards dried in the sun. Both processes are managed decentralized by the farmers. After this, beans are collected in the villages and transported to the central warehouse in Kpalimé, where end-drying, grading and quality control take place before the beans get packed in woven-bags, ready to be exported.

SCOOPS PROCAB

500 family farmers
Crop: cocoa beans

Officially founded in 2013, Scoops Procab was created by small-scale farmers working to build organic certified cacao production in Togo. The cooperative now has over 500 members located around the city of Kpalimé.

SCOOPS IKPA

350 family farmers
Crop: cocoa beans

Scoops IKPA, previously under the umbrella of the scoops Procab has raised their independence and founded their own cooperative in 2018. Scoops IKPA is located in Badou (212 km from Kpalimé) and currently has more than 350 members.