Ethical and Responsible Farming and Processing of Tea and Fruit
At the end of 2014, the auditors made their latest visit to Gebrüder Wollenhaupt suppliers located in India and Thailand. Both countries are major regions of origin for tea (India) and fruit (Thailand), which are key raw ingredients used at Wollenhaupt.
Experts regularly check and monitor both the safety criteria and production conditions on-site. Are the agreed-upon standards complied with? What are the working conditions for people in the tea estates, on the plantations and at the factories? Wollenhaupt takes its corporate responsibility for the social conditions very seriously, and its local suppliers are part of that.
In remote tea growing regions of India, to name a specific and recent example, the tea suppliers support their employees by ensuring a good education for their children as well as basic medical care. In Thailand, suppliers are monitored to make sure that employees receive a minimum wage payment, which assures that the children go to school – and not to the fields during the harvest time.
Social responsibility requires a sustained, comprehensive approach and a long-term strategy. In 2014, as in past years, it was necessary to explain the harmful consequences of using pesticides and other chemicals to the suppliers, and to promote different, better methods (organic fertilisers, insect repellents). It is still a rocky path that requires mutual effort and consistent monitoring, but we will stay the course.
There were some very positive developments over the past year, as the competition for the best workers in the two countries led to improvements in production facilities: Employee canteens, childcare services, apartments and staff break rooms increased the attractiveness of the workplace and the employer; at the same time (in India), wages for tea plantation workers rose substantially. Definite progress! And in both Thailand and India, there was a decrease in the number of workplace accidents.
Another very promising advance concerns the use of environmental resources: Rainwater is utilised wisely, electricity is generated independently and with renewable energies.
In summary, thanks to the joint efforts of everyone involved, 2014 saw positive changes. The distribution of wealth is indeed still very unequal in both nations, and people are exploited in many areas of these countries. However, it is the concrete, small steps that lead to long-term and beneficial improvements in the working and living conditions of the local people.
All of the external auditors (UTZ, Fairtrade, ETP), as well as we ourselves, had the impression that the local suppliers and partners in the two countries took pride in the positive changes.
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