Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform has bestowed
A statement from
Through its solution, the FSA, it enables businesses to assess, improve, and validate on-farm sustainability.
The company further says the FSA's Growing a Better Planet Award will be celebrating farmers, individuals and organisations who demonstrate leadership and innovation in their efforts to continuously improve on-farm sustainability.
Following an adjudication process amongst nominations from major businesses across the world at the
The award was handed over to
"The major benefit we both share in this relationship -- outside of our business transactions -- is that of the assurance we both have for ongoing governance, social inclusion and environmental sustainability in the supply chain.
"This assurance is guided and verified through the FSA tool, together with Phata's Fairtrade certification.
"This award recognises the cooperative's leadership in sustainability, operating within a community stressed by climate change, deforestation, and poverty.
"They have driven interventions such as renewable charcoal production, crop diversification and biodiversity which have demonstrated that sustainability is possible, and indeed essential, within a smallholder context," Katandula is quoted as saying.
"As Team Phata, we are very proud to have achieved this award! This could only be achieved with the continued efforts of the management team and the committed leadership by the Executive Committee," Bijl is quoted as saying.
The company adds that Phata's ground-breaking achievement follows
"Most importantly, the three independent growers within the Nchalo factory's cane supply also participated in the 2022 FSA audits, of which
"
Katandula sums it up by saying: "It demonstrates that adopting sustainable agricultural practices can be achieved, whilst also delivering powerful livelihood and community development outcomes."
Information that Illovo has provided indicates that
The farmers, who operate in a climate-risk area, pool their land and operate under irrigation at a much larger economy of scale, than independently.
Designed as such to bring about sustainable development outcomes, its founding partner is Agricane, with grant funding received from
In addition to a range of other crops and farming activities, the cane produced across more than 600 hectares of irrigated fields is milled at Illovo's Nchalo sugar factory in Chikwawa in the
In addition, the Cooperative also farms two hectares of orchards (mangoes, bananas and oranges); 30 hectares of food crops (maize and kidney beans); conserves and sustainably manages 50 hectares of natural and planted forests; has sustainable beekeeping; and also has 1.2 hectares of fishponds -- as a sustainable protein source for smallholder members.
The Cooperative also operates sustainable charcoal production, using trees harvested from its own planted woodlots, with the intention of disrupting deforestation and illegal charcoal activities within the surrounding area.
Income from Phata's activities has substantially improved the livelihoods of Phata's smallholder farmers and it is also a significant employer within the local community.
Wider community impact has also been realised through the spending of Fairtrade Premiums on local development projects.
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