TIANA® FAIRTRADE PROJECT: AN EFFECTIVE AND ENGAGING WAY
TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPING WORLD

Category/group of topic: Fairtrade
Date of posting: 25 November 2019
Reading time: 5 minutes

TIANA® Fairtrade Organics has a long-established commitment to Fairtrade and is a registered importer and supplier of Certified Fairtrade Organic coconut oil and coconut products available in the UK market.

TIANA® Fairtrade Organics created the TIANA® Fairtrade Project to help coconut farming communities in the Philippines to achieve a better standard of life, develop the local infrastructure, ensure no illegal child or animal labour, and to support sustainable agriculture methods.

When you buy TIANA® Fairtrade Certified products, you contribute to TIANA® Fairtrade Project: you can make a huge difference to people’s lives in developing countries and to the preservation of our ecosystem.

 

Why TIANA® Fairtrade Project?

Coconut is a major industry of the Philippines: it could be claimed that the coconut tree is the most useful plant on earth because it has more uses than any other trees in the world. The coconut tree is considered a “three-generation-tree”: supporting a farmer, his children and his grandchildren. That is why the coconut tree is often referred to as the "tree of life".

However, coconut farmers are regarded among the poorest in the country due the coconut trade monopoly where traders control prices leaving farmers with very little profit. Since the introduction of Fairtrade, this has proved to be an effective way to support farmers by providing them with a better deal by excluding traders from the supply chain.

Started at the end of 2009 when multiple typhoons badly hit the Philippines and coconut farmers lost their homes and almost all their income, TIANA® Fairtrade Project guarantees a fair price for coconuts and fair wage for coconut farmers. TIANA® only produce the best quality coconuts and pays farmers in advance of receiving the raw materials no matter the amount. Therefore, farmers earn at least 25% more than the minimum wage requirements in the Philippines.

 

TIANA® Fairtrade Project is making a difference

TIANA® Fairtrade Project contributes to economic and education prosperity, society development and making sure there is no slavery or illegal underage labour and no monkeys, or any other animals involved at any steps of the process.

TIANA® Fairtrade Project has already benefitted more than ten thousand of coconut farmers and their families in the Philippines with improvements in healthcare, education and infrastructure, as well as improving the general standard of living. TIANA® Fairtrade Organics is proud that our organic coconut products are the 1st and only Fairtrade Certified, ethical products that give something back to the environment.

By choosing TIANA® you can be assured that our coconut farmers will be able to build sustainable businesses, have access to health care and that their children are able to have a good education:

  • Healthcare. The coconut farmer’s local hospital provides direct health care to workers and the entire community. TIANA® Fairtrade Organics is subsidising a 5% cost of the total hospital bill for all coconut workers and their families.
  • Give Back. TIANA® Fairtrade Organics established a Partnership Fund, which ensures that at least 3% from the total of each sale goes back to the farmers, growers and their families to raise their income and boost the local economy. 
  • Education. Unfortunately, child labour is commonplace in areas where Fairtrade is absent.  Even though the Philippine Government offers free primary school attendance, most parents who earn as little as

£1.5 - £3 per day, are unable to buy the books or pay for transport for their children and consequently 80% of children do not attend regular school. Therefore, child labour is used widely in order to help families make ends meet. TIANA® Fairtrade Project ensures that farming communities are better paid, a much larger proportion of children can attend and stay in school rather than work.

  • Protect the Environment. TIANA® is also engaged in a program to protect the environment by purchase seedlings and replant coconut trees in Southern Luzon, which will also secure a permanent source of income for coconut farmers.

Sustainability is at the heart of TIANA® Fairtrade Project

TIANA® Fairtrade Organics is a green and socially responsible company, and is committed to organic, fairtrade, transparency and to sustainable agricultural methods and does not use any product grown on land that has been cleared from natural virgin forest.

The TIANA® Fairtrade Project ensures that our farmers use good plantation practice to make coconut agriculture sustainable. We offer high quality products, produced in accordance to the strict standards in organic and sustainable production practices, which allow us to ensure a sustainable and reliable supply chain from coconut farmer to consumer.

Environmental replanting of coconut trees as per TIANA® Fairtrade Project and recycling is our standard practice, all our packaging is fully recyclable. TIANA® products are produced in accordance to Food Safety and HACCP standards at our organic certified facility that is also SALSA accredited. 

Coconut Sugar Sustainability. To maximise the economic potential of coconut tree, coconut often produce two products from the same tree – sap (nectar) and coconuts. This is usually done by restricting “tapping” (obtaining coconut nectar from the spathe) to 6 months or tapping alternative spathes so that coconut production is also possible during the remaining months of the year.

In the Philippines, it is only used to produce both sap and nut by tapping only half the length and leaving the lower half for nut production. Under proper management, the coconut tree can yield 19 tons of crystallised coconut nectar per hectare per year. 

Each coconut tree represents a considerable investment of time and effort by the coconut farmers. Our Fairtrade and organic coconut farmers work on a sustainable agriculture basis and will not risk damaging their trees by over producing coconut sap.

At TIANA® Fairtrade Organics, our mission is to enable every of our customers to have a healthier lifestyle, consume responsibly while offering quality, tasty, sustainable and responsibly produced organic products.

DISCOVER TIANA® FAIRTRADE ORGANICS RANGE