Key Information

Sector: Agriculture (Coffee, Horticulture and Tea)

Lead Partner: Solidaridad East and Central Africa

Other Partners: Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI); Tea Research Institute of Tanzania (TRIT); Horticultural Research & Training Institute (HORTI-TENGERU)

Budget: EUR 3 026 455

EU Contribution: EUR 2 680 000

Duration: 2020 - 2024

Key activities:

• Train smallholder farmers and producers on agronomy and primary processing, gender inclusivity, and on digital solutions.
• Promote institutional strengthening of farmer associations, cooperatives and tea factories.
• Train extension workers (relevant Ministry, local government authorities, and consortium partners TaCRI, TRIT, HORT-TENGERU) on VSS principles.
• Provide local independent auditors with training to facilitate VSS certification audits and support the accreditation process. 
• Establish environmental and social governance (ESG) criteria for farmers producing sustainably, with the support of Solidaridad digital solutions (Farming Solutions).
• Sensitise value chain actors on VSS compliance and adoption of baseline environmental, social and governance frameworks.
• Initiate match making sessions (meetings, auctions, field visits, publicity) between buyers/traders and producers in Tanzania.
• Develop guidelines for VSS for tea, coffee and horticulture.
• Lobbying key sector players to establish incentives (through premiums, better prices, good governance, improved productivity and product quality).
• Provide training for farmers, cooperatives and tea factories on the implementation of labour standards as part of VSS.

voluntary_sustainability_standard_project_factsheet.pdf