News & Insights

For some, the sloping beaches in Atacames are heaven amongst the hills and mountains that dominate the Ecuadorian landscape. But for Martin, heaven is the 10 hectares of cocoa garden behind his house. "Living here feels like being in heaven. Peaceful. I don't smoke or drink (alcohol). I've only been to a party once. And that was with my wife," Martin adds glancing at his wife, smiling.

It's no surprise that the internet and social media are not as widely used in Ecuador as they are in Indonesia. So, you can't talk about netizen communities or internet-based social networks like you can in Indonesia. Here – if I'm not mistaken – that is a long way off. Not at all like Indonesia. I hope that Ecuador will get more affordable and accessible mobile phone and internet services. So that Cinthya and Reynaldo can see more of the world again from their mobiles.

One week to go before the start of the International Rice Congress in Bangkok. 5 representatives of the West African regional rice producers platform CRCOPR and 2 staff from VECO West Africa and 1 from head office will attend the congress.

From 1 to 3 October the World Trade Organisation (WTO) organised its yearly Public Forum in the WTO headquarters in Geneva. The Forum wanted to tell the human story behind trade, 'the myriad connections between trade and people's daily lives and how trade improves the day-to-day lives of citizens around the globe'. Within the Forum Vredeseilanden/VECO was entitled to organize a workshop on Inclusive trading relationships, linking smallholders to modern markets: how to build bridges and create a win-win?

"I admit: I am not a committed consumer. So, there you have it. Even worse: I am a lazy consumer." Colleague Jelle reflects on his consumer behaviour and the impact of it.

A case study by VECO Indonesia on the collective marketing efforts of certified sustainable cocoa in Polewali Mandar.

The purpose of this case study is to describe the success story of a rice farmer group in Boyolali called Aliansi Petani Padi Boyolali (APPOLI) , which is gradually managing to switch to organic rice cultivation and make use of opportunities to supply global market demand.

In general, the target for organic products is better-off consumers, in the middle to high income bracket. This group is already health aware. But not many people in Mbay fall into this group. So, the Mbay farmers have expanded the marketing of their organic rice to neighbouring towns, such as Ende and Maumere.

The past four weeks we had a temporary colleague from Mars working at our headoffice. Mars Incorporated is one of world's leading food manufacturers known for its chocolates, candy and pet care products. VECO works together with Mars in a joint cocoa program in Indonesia.

On June 9th we left for Amsterdam to attend the World Cocoa Conference, a 4-day conference on the future and sustainability of the cocoa sector. More than 1400 participants attended, coming from 55 countries worldwide, representing all stakeholders in the value chain: governments of producing and consuming countries, cocoa processors (Mars, Cargill, Callebaut,….), traders (ADM, ECOM,…), cocoa farmers, chocolate makers, civil society actors, journalists …

Rice is a new crop for West-Africa. Twenty years ago rice was consumed only on Sunday and special occasions. Now rice is the most important cereal in the region, and the consumption is expected to double by the year 2050. This means a huge potential income for smallholder rice farmers who have the potential to produce these large quantities – even if there is a long way to go. Today 40% of rice consumption is imported – mainly from Asia.

On May 13, more than 100 professionals from the out of home sector gathered at the networking event Your Choice. Your Choice aims to bring suppliers on the one hand and bulk consumers on the other hand together in order to get to know each other and exchange on the theme of sustainable food.

As a build up to the Your Choice networking event Vredeseilanden organized a round-table conference with contract caterers. The subject: “How can contract caterers contribute to improved sustainability performance in social catering?” The introduction was given by Saartje Boutsen of Vredeseilanden.

The Okualas village, in the Tinombo subdistrict of Parigi Moutong district, in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia lies in the mountains, around 500 - 1,800 metres above sea level. The tortuous, winding road to the village is extremely taxing. And the road surface is badly damaged too. Nevertheless, cocoa producers are able to sell their cocoa, through a long supply chain.

The debate on GMO’s in the media is sometimes heavy, with researchers and seed companies arguing that GMO’s offer an essential answer to the many challenges faced by agriculture today. Feeding 9 billion mouths by 2050 will not be possible without the use of Genetically Modified Organisms, is their statement. Opponents argue that GMO’s are an environmental disaster and that patents are a noose around the neck of farmers worldwide.

Katharina Beelen coordinates the sustainable consumption and catering program of VECO in Belgium. With this program, VECO wants to accompany kitchens and mass catering in the public and private sector towards a more sustainable approach. The activities are mainly pursued in Belgium, but they link up to initiatives abroad and contain interesting lessons worth sharing.

The Talang Kemuning village in Kerinci, Jambi, Indonesia is like a meat ball in a bowl. The village is located in the middle of a “natural bowl” formed by the hills surrounding it. There are hills with names as Pematang Panjang, Bukit Sungai, Sungai Kering, Bukit, Pulau Lebar, ... They all stretch out like a circle around the village. This particular shape makes the hills look like a natural fortress. It contains a natural treasury where the farmers' income comes from: cinnamon trees.

Imam Suharto, program director of VECO Indonesia has co-authored an article in the Global Environmental Change Journal on climate change adaptation.

The Congolese producers in the border areas of the East of Congo are at the mercy of illicit buyers and quality is not remunerated. So it is no surprise at all that the official Congolese coffee export plummeted from the historical record export of over 130,000 metric tons in the mid-eighties down to only a little over 6% of this today. The revival of the Congolese coffee sector starts with the reconstruction of the farmers’ capacity to produce top quality coffee and their ability to connect to the world market.

In their recent report 'Food Tank by numbers', the Food Think Tank highlights new research showing how family farms can nourish the world while protecting the environment. One of the success stories highligted in this report is the Boyolali organic rice program by the members of APPOLI, a farmer organisation supported by VECO Indonesia.

On the 17th of February Sabine Denis, manager of Business & Society, presented a new book to a large audience at the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium. The book is based on some thirty in-depth interviews with captains of industry.

On February 12 and 13, around 60 companies, NGOs, academics and experts from every corner of the world met in a workshop in Amsterdam. They considered the question on how we can achieve better long-term involvement of small-scale producers in commercial, modern markets. Vredeseilanden was there also. We shared our experience about cooperating with Colruyt and learned a lot on how companies envision the challenge to buy from small-scale farmers.

Horticulture is a promising agricultural sector in Honduras, concentrated in 4 areas, of which Intibucá is an important one. VECO supports the Lenca farmers in Intibucá, poor and historically marginalized, to improve their standard of living and their food security. VECO wants a better deal for these indigenous smallholder farmers, through a sustainable fresh vegetables chain.

VECO is active in Yen Lap district, Phu Tho province, where tea is a major crop, often accounting for over 40% of family income. Chain development is seen as an approach which can improve the quality of the tea by developing strong market linkages and collective actions, resulting in a better income for farmers.

The 9th WTO conference started this week in Bali, Indonesia. Development and farmer organizations are worried that the industrialized countries will not take into account the interests of developing countries, and that trade rules will overrule food security. VECO’s advocacy officer in Indonesia, Adil Mareta, attended one of the civil society side events of the summit.

Vredeseilanden went with a number of business people, politicians and opinion makers to visit producers in Senegal. The group got to know banana and sesame producers and reflected and debated together with them about answers we can provide to the challenges that small-scale producers in developing countries are facing. How can they obtain a place and a fair income in modern food chains? And which role can the businesses, government, farmers’ organizations and education play?

On September 19 we actually had a media figure as a guest: Bram Govaerts, bio-engineer and clever person with CYMMIT in Mexico: the international Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. The Flemish press briefly swarmed towards him when Bill Gates and Carlos Slim co-invested in the “MasAgro” initiative. You may have read about their work on seed improvement. However, after our session we can safely state that the really pioneering aspect of MasAgro was not in the papers. So you will have to read it here.

Following the example of fair trade with the South, can we also apply the fair trade principles in Belgium? That was what we – representatives of NGOs and of the different links in the (organic) food chain - reflected on, freely and frankly, at Johan Broekx’ dairy farm. The inspiration came from the fair organic milk Biodia, which guarantees a fair income to the farmer thanks to a unique price calculation.

From 10 till 20th June, the presidents and some technicians from our partner organizations PNOPPA (national farmer organization of Benin) and CTOP (national farmer organization of Togo) were in Brussels to meet up with the European Commission and to participate in the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA), which took place from 15 till 19 June in the European parliament.

The Vredeseilanden vision states that smallholder farmers will be able to feed the 9 billion people by 2050, that they can work themselves out of poverty by doing so, and that they can do so without putting too much pressure on the earth.