LATIN AMERICA - As sustainability takes a front seat for consumers and members of the supply chain, companies like Fyffes are ramping up their efforts to create change. As part of its sustainability targets, the banana supplier recently partnered with independent experts in its fruit production countries to better understand the needs of its neighboring communities.
“The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights require companies to understand their role in causing or contributing to human rights impacts. The first step to achieving this is to first understand how the organization impacts human beings living and working near or on their operations,” said Sustainability Manager Stella Davis. “The insights provided by the communities on what really matters to them inform how we allocate our donation budget. In addition, Community Needs Assessments ensure we anticipate emerging legislation on environmental and human rights due diligence.”
One of Fyffes' sustainability goals is to ensure that 100 percent of its priority communities are engaged in resilient socio-economic community projects out of Fyffes' four community investment areas—nutrition and health, climate change resilience, gender empowerment, and promoting access to education—by 2030, a release stated.
The supplier worked with several experts and organizations to anonymously survey more than 2,200 participants from communities surrounding its farms in Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Honduras, starting in 2021. Despite the distance between many of these regions, some of the common themes that emerged as priority areas for development included:
- Access to healthcare and medical facilities
- Access to healthy, affordable fresh produce
- Stable employment and better incomes
- Women’s empowerment and gender equality
- Access to water
Fyffes has already begun projects designed to help address these needs, such as medical brigades in Honduras and Belize, fruit donations to schools and food banks, infrastructure improvements in schools, and more.
As Fyffes continues to introduce new measures to address these issues, stay in the know with AndNowUKnow.
