Outgowers Update

Yesterday we had a meeting with Mr. Wilfred Kustomu, the Chairman of Msuwadzi Tea Growers Association whose members Satemwa buys green leaf from. The main purpose of the meeting was discuss some funding from the Farm Income Diversification Program (FIDIP) that has been identified to fund expansion and rehabilitation of smallholder tea fields.

We will be meeting again with FIDIP to try and work out the technicalities of this support program, with a view to the first plants being planted in May / June 2012.

Rainforest Alliance Certification

This morning we received our Rainforest Alliance certificate, certifying Satemwa for tea production. Unfortunately the auditors visited in October when we were not harvesting coffee as a result they were unable to do their ‘chain of custody’ audit and we can’t be certified for coffee production at this stage.

This will compliment our existing Utz and Fairtrade certificates both in different markets, but also our operations on the ground. Rainforest as the name suggests, as well as covering workers rights issues, health and safety etc has a bias towards protection of the environment. This is expressed in strict waste management standards etc

Still waiting for the little frog logo that we can include on our site!