On my second day in Ghana, we went to visit a brand new SI customer.  This group has only recently acquired FLO-certification but for four products: cocoa, chillies, pineapples and sugar.  Most groups only apply for and maintain certification for a single commodity so this will be an interesting one to watch.  Normally we wouldn’t work with such a group as they did not meet one of our principal lending criteria; they didn’t have any export buyers when we approved their facility.  That said they have worked incredibly hard to boost the impact they have on their community and have succeeded in obtaining FLO-certification in order that they might trade their products internationally.  Our raison d’être is to work with the most disadvantaged so we felt we had to find a way of working with this group.  Indeed, within less than a week of us approving their smallish term loan facility, we were delighted to hear that they had succeeded in acquiring agreement from a major fair trade buyer in the UK to buy two types of their chillies packed in oil in glass jars for retail.

Our primary meeting at their headquarters was typically African; it began with a prayer and everyone was invited to comment if they wished to do so.  They all spoke with so much passion and gratitude; it was heart-warming and convinced me that we’d made the right decision to lend to them.  Things have not been easy for the group and at times they have had to take tough decisions and to prioritise due to a lack of funds.  Our funds will be used both to buy seedlings in order to ensure consistent quality product but also to buy a truck to transport their produce for sale, both locally and for export.  Previously, the lack of a truck has forced them to leave product to go to waste as they were simply not able to collect it from the farmers and deliver it for sale.  Not only was the cost of truck-hire very expensive, the drivers were too impatient to wait until the trucks were full which was of course inefficient and frustrating.

On our third day, we escaped from Accra into the countryside surrounding Akosombo.  We were visiting an existing pineapple customer on behalf of some of our colleagues as we wished to know how the harvest was progressing.  We met with all but one of the employees and had a brief meeting in the office before heading off towards the farm, stopping for some of the most amazing tilapia I’d ever tasted en route.

This group has delivered masses of social impact to the community.  Not only do they now have electricity pylons on the peninsula which they didn’t have prior to the creation of the group but they also opened a school in 2006; it is much nearer to the village meaning that the children have less far to walk along the very dusty tracks.  They also receive donations via a 1 cent/kg deduction in Europe on each box of fruit and this is spent on books and blackboards.  Lastly the Fairtrade premium that they earned in 2011 will be used for loans to members for both educational and vocational training.  This was agreed by the members at their AGM last September. 

The group was particularly badly affected in 2010 when Lake Volta flooded.  Whilst some of the water has now receded, the level of the lake is much higher than it used to be and it has devastated 8-10 hectares of the farm.  However the farm was not at full capacity so new acreage has been planted with rotational crops to bring year-round produce; the only problem is that the suckers take 12 months to mature.  Unfortunately some of the farmers chose to leave the group as they feared for its long-term sustainability following the flood but new entrants are now actively being encouraged to join.  

The intention here was that our monies (in the form of a term loan) were to be used to buy farming infrastructure and a truck.  We not only achieved this but we were also able to fund the relocation inland of their new electricity pylons when they were submerged by the flooding.  Likewise they were able to buy a mobile pumping machine as the fixed one was now in the middle of the lake!  Their transport capacity has doubled with the purchase of a new truck and not only that, they can now refrigerate their produce too.  One of the best parts of my role has to be seeing first-hand how our producer customers have utilised the funds with which we are able to furnish them thanks to our members’ investments.

Click here to learn how you can invest in fair trade. Click here to donate to the Shared Interest Foundation