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In Focus:
Forestrade Indonesia
An organisation with philanthropic roots, ForesTrade is a NASAA certified operation whose projects are designed to positively contribute to partnering producers, producer organisations, and communities in Indonesia and Guatemala. Through alliances with NGOs, local businesses and over 6,000 local indigenous producers, the projects directly benefit grower groups and cooperatives, local indigenous farmers, farming communities, NGOs, and local businesses. The benefits to local grower groups, individual farmers, their families and communities, include community development, increased farmer revenue, training and technical assistance, conservation of rainforests and natural resources, soil fertility and biodiversity.
Community Development and Increased Farmer Revenue
ForesTrade offers an Organic Bonus Program as an added economic incentive to participating producer groups. Farmer Groups and individual farmers use their bonus for farming upgrades, community improvements and self-help projects such as, medical needs, education, savings and home repairs. For example the villages of Kelumbayan & Labuhan Maringgai plan to use their bonus to invest in processing equipment for slicing and drying ginger; and Sakal created pilot projects for white pepper processing and purchased a generator, which brought electricity to the village.Cassia Cinnamon was ForesTrade's first organic project, having worked closely with local producers in Kerinci since 1996. As a result of this long relationship, numerous projects ranging from public building works to agriculture improvement programs and flood relief have been funded through the bonus proceeds. ForesTrade has also played a critical role in establishing a successful coffee project in the troubled area of Aceh, North Sumatra. ForesTrade helped to create the Gayo Organic Coffee Farmers Association (PPKGO) in partnership with local processor CV Trimaju to develop and supply quality organic coffee to US and European Markets. ForesTrade is now a leading supplier of 'single origin' Fair Trade coffee, and the only supplier of Fair Trade coffee from Indonesia.
Technical Assistance and Training
ForesTrade provides technical assistance and institutional support, helping to strengthen its business partners' capacity in the following areas:
Organic and Sustainable Agriculture
> Crop rotations, cover crops, intercropping and application composted manure and mulch
> Soil Conservation
Organic Certification Requirements - Internal Control System (ICS)
> ForesTrade staff train the farmers on how to develop and maintain the Internal Control Systems (ICS) a requirement for Organic Certification
Quality Control and Good Agricultural Practices
> The ForesTrade staff train the farmers in planting and harvesting methodology to obtain the highest quality products
Training & Technical Assistance for Localized Processing
> ForesTrade provided training and technical assistance to ginger and turmeric farmers in Lampung to assist them in doing their own local drying.
Monitoring & Maintenance of Organic Certification
> ForesTrade has trained its local business partners in the how to satisfy the Organic regulations through their manufacturing practices and documentation
Environmental Conservation
ForesTrade has successfully grown its projects within the buffer zones of nine National Parks and Ecological Preserves in Guatemala and Indonesia. The company provides economic incentives to local farmers for adhering to sustainable and organic agricultural practices. Farmers enter into agreements with ForesTrade to honour core protected areas and not to clear-cut forest. The consequence of breaking these agreements is termination from the farmer network and the inability to sell products to ForesTrade.
The contracts are only one way that ForesTrade works with their producer partners to conserve natural resources. In West Sumatra they helped create economic incentives to make the Mentawai rainforests more economically viable 'standing' than sold to logging concessions. Working with over 350 participating farmers from six of the Mentawai Islands, farmers are paid more for their cloves and patchouli oil than they would get for selling their land for logging.
ForesTrade partners with over 300 growers in the Air Naningan Subdistrict of Lampung, Sumatra. These farmers have established a 1,200 hectare community forestry project in cooperation with the National Forestry Department. As an ongoing economic incentive, the local forestry concession will allow the communities to plant and harvest products for 35 years if they can demonstrate an increase in revenues without environmental degradation.
The organic cassia cinnamon project directly supports the work of a local traditional cultural organization, Lembaga Kerja Tetap (LKT), which has taken the lead in setting new boundaries for the Kerinci-Seblat National Park and in stabilising the landholdings of its members. Participating farmers agree to use organic farming techniques and implement conservation practices such as selective harvesting and contour terracing. In addition, LKT has set aside several parcels totalling over 1000 hectares outside the park as traditional community forest to be protected in a natural state.
[Article reproduced from Organic Insights, December 2004]
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