WORKING TOGETHER FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH: SYMRISE TAKES A NEW APPROACH IN MADAGASCAR
Quality and supply assurance, the possibility of organic and Fair Trade certification and full backward integration – Symrise activities on Madagascar are a success story. By investing in an alternative model of raw material sourcing, Symrise played a pioneering role in 2010.
Madagascar, the island off the east coast of Africa: the fourth-largest island in the world and thanks to its unique flora and fauna, a hotspot of species diversity – and one of the largest vanilla-growing regions. Madagascar is also a country in which around half of the approximately 20 million inhabitants live beneath the poverty line. Traditional small-scale farming – in a natural environment under massive threat of overexploitation – is for many people the only source of income.
Fragile equilibrium
Madagascar is the largest area devoted to the cultivation of coveted Bourbon vanilla – and therefore also an important site for Symrise. This is where the company buys and processes the precious vanilla pods that are the key raw material for the most important sweet flavoring in the world. “The environment we are working in here is undergoing drastic change. The ecological equilibrium is in danger, yet at the same time, economic development is urgently needed,” explains Oliver Nembach, Global Competence Director Vanilla. “With our responsible sourcing strategy and commitment at local level, we reconcile nature conservation with vanilla cultivation.”
Instead of focusing on large monocultures of vanilla, Symrise promotes traditional farming methods by sourcing its pods from more than 6000 small-scale farmers – this kind of source integration forms the basis for the company’s sustainability model. Symrise maintains direct contact with the smallholders and their cooperatives instead of going through all the usual channels of middlemen, processors, exporters, importers and extract companies. “Compliance with defined quality standards cannot be assured across the many more or less anonymous intermediate stages of conventional sourcing. For Symrise, however, responsibility for the quality of our natural vanilla flavorings and vanilla extracts begins with the producer, with the small-scale farmers on Madagascar,” comments Nembach. “Our model benefits many Madagascans, and that means both the people who have found a job at Symrise Madagascar and the small-scale farmers and their communities. All of these people play a vital role in the vanilla value chain – they are the basis of the local economy and they guarantee sustainable quality.”
New sourcing channels
In adopting the new model, Symrise is taking a pioneering step forward. The company is already one step ahead today thanks to its backward integration and the traceability, first-hand information, selection and purchasing on the basis of direct, long-term relationships with local partners this entails – all of which enable Symrise to ensure that appropriate quality grades are available to satisfy market demand. The next step takes us even further. As Nembach explains, “Our responsible sourcing model directly benefits the farmers because we purchase the pods straight from farm cooperatives without any middlemen in between.” One such cooperative is the ADAPS (Association pour le Développement de l'Agriculture et du Paysannat du Sambirano) located in the north of Madagascar. Founded in 2000, today it represents some 2,000 small-scale farmers from the Sambirano region and produces cocoa, coffee and vanilla. Symrise buys the cooperative’s entire vanilla production. Nembach: “For Symrise, this means top-quality raw materials and transparency; for the farmers, a guaranteed buyer for their harvest, which in turn means a secure income and a better standard of living.”
A win-win situation for economy and ecology
Since 2010, Symrise has also been working with FANAMBY (Madagascan: challenge), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the living conditions of the rural population and at the same time to preserve the country’s biodiversity. FANAMBY encourages small-scale farmers to organize themselves in cooperatives, trains farmers and helps them to improve the quality of their products and thus also create more value. One approach is to grow and produce high-quality vanilla with organic and Fair Trade certification. The prices the cooperatives realize for these specialties are higher than the usual market price. Surplus revenue is invested sensibly – with full transparency for all partners: One third goes straight to the farmers, a further third to the surrounding communities to fund nonprofit community projects. The final third is invested in biodiversity conservation. This last in particular is more than necessary on Madagascar. Forest clearance, for example for the purpose of charcoal production or searching for gold, not only poses a threat to the flora but also jeopardizes the habitats of unique animal species, such as that of the lemurs. Oliver Nembach: “This is a win-win situation for everyone involved. The project creates a reliable source of income for the vanilla farmers and their families, and helps communities to build urgently needed infrastructure. It protects and conserves nature. And we, in our role as a flavor company, can additionally influence the quality of the vanilla pods and extracts. We communicate directly with our suppliers, pass on our know-how to them and receive truly sustainable premium vanilla in return. Our pioneering approach has met with a great deal of interest from our customers.“
Plans and projects for an island and its people
Also pioneering is the work we share with other institutions. We have initiated further projects in collaboration with GIZ, the German Association for International Cooperation. The goal: a Symrise-specific model of responsible sourcing that goes beyond Fair Trade certification. The model aims to create better living conditions for small-scale farmers, assure ethical values, promote the education of farmers and their families and preserve traditional agricultural structures.
In order to render the model’s success measurable and demonstrable, Symrise encourages and assists with the systematic recording and scientific evaluation of local conditions. To this end, Symrise formed a public private partnership with the GIZ and develoPPP, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Work on a two-year survey was begun in September 2010 to study the living conditions of the Madagascan vanilla farmers, with the aim of obtaining a basis for sustainable and fair pricing models. Oliver Nembach regards it as perfectly natural for Symrise to be participating in such activities. “As a company, we want to be involved in a sustainable sense and to contribute actively to constructive change. Fair Trade certification, a far-reaching strategy of responsible sourcing and local social commitment – these are the pillars of our holistic approach to vanilla. So far, practice has shown that this strategy works and that our efforts are benefiting all sides. This is our way of ensuring the value – and the values – of vanilla.”
