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6 years ago

The Partnership no. 13

  • Text
  • Enza
  • Tomatoes
  • Partnership
  • Zaden
  • Tomato
  • Biodiversity
  • Melon
  • Varieties
  • Flavour
  • Consumer

Fair Planet Nuri sells

Fair Planet Nuri sells his tomatoes in the Butajira market. Amir, Fair Planet training coordinator, joins the market day. 30 | The Partnership

CSR What a difference in a period of just five years. In 2012, Dr. Shoshan Haran started the non-profit organisation Fair Planet to increase food and nutrition security, and provide new economic opportunities for smallholder farmers in developing countries. Now, the results of the project are very visible. Bridging theSeedGap Dr. Shoshan Haran used to work for an Israeli seed company where she learnt how varieties developed for a number of different growing conditions delivered a solution to many farmers all over the world. Haran: “At the same time, I was aware that malnutrition and hunger were rife in some parts of Africa. This was what prompted me to set up Fair Planet with the idea to bridge the gap between the leading seed companies and the smallholder farmers in hunger stricken countries.” Pioneering The first step of the project was to identify tomato varieties that significantly increased local farmers’ yields and proved what professionals in the seed industry know so well: high-quality seeds are the key success factor for any farmer in the world. “The three pioneering seed companies, among which Enza Zaden, trusted and joined us from day one and made our open-aid platform possible. Enza Zaden is providing its best varieties for the benefit of the Ethiopian farmers, while taking its share in this growing seed market.” Other seed companies joined the project at a later stage, as did the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) which supports the capacity-building programme for smallholder farmers. Training centres The project started with the tomato trials in Butajira, the southern central part of Ethiopia. The first results were already very promising as the quality hybrid varieties turned out to yield five times as many tomatoes as the average national harvest. “Following this proof of concept, we expanded the programme and established three training centres in collaboration with one of the leading agricultural universities in the country Haramaya University, and the regional offices of agriculture. They play a major role in increasing productivity and delivering technology transfer and capacity development.” Meseret Meseret from the Harari region in East Ethiopia is a widow and a mother of four children. She joined the Fair Planet training programme last season, and grew tomatoes on her small plot of 750 m 2 . She harvested 2,800 kgs of high quality tomatoes and made a profit of €670. Meseret: “My life has changed for the best. I used the money I earned to buy two oxen and will continue with vegetables! Batam Amsa-Genalo Fair Planet." The Partnership | 31

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