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FRICH update

The Food Retail Industry Challenge has to date awarded funding to seven groundbreaking projects that support farmers in Africa. The projects will make major strides in helping farmers across Africa meet Fairtrade, quality and environmental standards, get more of their food into UK supermarkets and improve their livelihoods while also raising significantly the profile of African food among British consumers.

The projects range from developing new products – such as gourmet coffees and teas from DRCongo, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya, and single origin cocoa drinks from São Tomé – to building new and sustainable supply chains – such as using new technology to bring sea-freighted fresh juices to the UK, producing dried strawberries in Uganda and establishing farming co-operatives in Kenya to diversify tea producers into vegetables. FRICH supported projects are working to integrate a range of certification schemes into products including Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, and LEAF.

By working with UK retailers and supply chain experts, African farmers can build up their capacity, knowledge and experience and find new, sustainable markets for their products, putting them in a better position to compete globally. The projects will also allow them to retain a greater proportion of the profits associated with their products and leave them less vulnerable to commercial exploitation or the vagaries of the international commodities markets.

For more information on individual projects, please go to the Projects section of the website.