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Cutting Out the Middlemen
For products that we do not produce ourselves, we have adopted an internal policy that we accept "at most one intermediary between the farmer and us." This way we also want to ensure the greatest possible transparency for products we do not manufacture ourselves and be as close to the farmer as possible.
But what does that mean for us? We increasingly buy products directly in the South and no longer from importers. From now on we must take care of freight documents, customs clearance and logistics ourselves. We inspect every supplier ourselves and must monitor quality. These are all things that specialized trading partners had previously handled for us. And the choice of suppliers also requires rethinking: simply skipping the trade and buying directly from the previous producer is sometimes not possible because they are contractually bound to their importer – so we sometimes have to find new producers.
But we do not always buy directly in the South. Sometimes we work with partners who operate according to the same principles as we do: they themselves have maintained contact with farmers for years, buy their products and may even invest locally. This is, for example, the case with quinoa. Our partner swipala has been working with quinoa farmers in Bolivia for over ten years. Previously we offered the swipala store packaging, which we had to obtain through a distributor. Now we buy directly from swipala, namely in standard gebana bags. This saves material and costs. And you benefit from that: Our quinoa becomes significantly cheaper!
Paying via Mobile Phone in Togo
Working directly with smallholder farming families in West Africa is not an easy undertaking. In most countries, a partly multi-tiered system with so-called "middlemen" has developed over many generations. These purchase the products from the farming families and sell them collectively to processing companies.
Our desire to buy as directly as possible from the farmer therefore sometimes conflicts with this traditional system. We have now found a solution for this: mobile payments. This still allows a "middleman" to collect the goods from the farmer and pass them on collectively, but we pay him and the farming families directly and thus know that the correct amount reaches everyone.
When paying via mobile phone, a payment method already established in West Africa, the money is transmitted like an SMS, even very small amounts. It is stored on the phone like prepaid credit. This works even with very old mobile phones and completely without apps or an internet connection. The producers then have the option of having the money paid out at the nearest kiosk or using it to make purchases directly.
In the autumn we started the pilot phase with mobile payments in Togo, explained our considerations and the procedure to the producers. They welcomed our initiative but also approached the project with skepticism: there was fear of change, and since the money is not handed over physically many producers were simply not sure whether we would really pay them. Fortunately most concerns dissipated during the trial.
We are currently evaluating the results and looking for solutions to any remaining problems. In the coming months and years we want to roll out the system in further regions.