Tate & Lyle Sugars celebrates 15 years of collaborating with communities through Fairtrade

25 July 2024

In the last 15 years, our supply partner, Tate & Lyle’s Fairtrade Premium initiatives has worked with thousands of small-scale sugarcane farmers and their communities.

The Fairtrade Premium is an additional sum of money which goes into a fund for farmers to use – as they see fit – to improve their social, economic, and environmental conditions.

We are proud to be long-standing partners with a supplier whose initiatives make a difference. Through our long-standing partnership with Tate & Lyle Sugars, we've generated an estimated £566,000* in Fairtrade Premium through sales of Tate & Lyle sugar. This money has gone towards various initiatives, working with women to become leaders, supporting wildlife safeguarding initiatives, and securing better healthcare.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

Tate & Lyle’s Fairtrade partnership works with women so they can gain more active roles in the sugar industry. For example, Fairtrade Premium contributed to The Progressive Sugarcane Producers Association, which launched a Female Empowerment Program.

This pilot project worked with 60 women across four communities in Belize, with a focus on training skills such as financial literacy empowerment, economic opportunities, and hands-on training. It focused on training in financial skills and financial literacy for sugarcane revenues, as well as small business entrepreneurship and ways to diversify their income.

Through these newly acquired aptitudes, these women have the potential to pursue new business opportunities, improve their farms, and in turn build a more successful family farming business, with the potential for long-term impact for those involved.

On a day-to-day basis, these new opportunities mean women have more control over the family income and expenses. Perhaps most importantly, these opportunities also instil more confidence and generate greater recognition for women sugarcane farmers.

SAFEGUARDING ENDANGERED WILDLIFE

The sugarcane industry has a responsibility to minimise any potential environmental impacts, particularly on endangered species, but the Progressive Sugar Cane Farmers’ Association has gone further, creating an initiative which promotes sustainable sugarcane farming practices that support biodiversity.

The Association arranged for farmers whose land is close to areas of high conservation value, such as rivers and nature reserves, to participate in a Wildlife Ambassador Program run by a local NGO Wildlife and Referral Clinic in Belize.

As well as this program, the Progressive Sugar Cane Producers’ Association, a local nature reserve; the Corozal Sustainable Future Initiative, and Belize Sugar Industries (BSI), Tate & Lyle Sugars’ cane sugar supplier in Belize, have come together to support biodiversity.

Together, they are implementing innovative strategies that balance agricultural productivity with ecological conservation to preserve the wildlife looking to thrive and survive in their habitat. The goals of this project include protecting the biodiversity of Northern Belize to promote healthy ecosystems and help stabilise the climate, provide food, and clean water, and protect the coastline.

ESSENTIAL CHILD HEALTHCARE

Those living in rural locations are understandably remote from access to healthcare services.

With the Fairtrade Premium, cane farmer organisations can arrange for teams of healthcare professionals to visit their communities and hold local clinics, which are accessible to those without the means to travel to the cities.

One family who has benefited from this partnership is that of David.

David’s family started to detect that he was unable to speak when he was two years old and with the support and funding contributed by the Fairtrade Premium, a doctor was able to visit David in his village in Belize. He was diagnosed as profoundly deaf with only a 20% hearing level. David was given hearing aids which transformed his life and meant he was now able to find school much more enjoyable, as he’s able to better communicate and has the chance to learn and play with other children.

Each time we purchase Fairtrade products, such as Tate & Lyle sugar, we are directly choosing to support a cause which means farmers and workers can build a better future.

Through our partnership with Tate & Lyle Sugars, we’re proud to make a positive contribution to small-scale sugarcane farmers so that they and their communities have opportunities to improve the quality of their lives.

Find out more about Tate & Lyle Sugars’ projects here: https://www.sustainablyrefined.com/15-years-of-fairtrade/

*Estimated Fairtrade Premium figure is based on the total volume of sugar purchased by Foodbuy between 2010 and 2023. Sourcing volumes supplied by Tate & Lyle.