Paul de Rooij is one of the two founders of Trianon and explains the purpose of the financing: “With the DGGF financing we can buy machines and construct an additional processing facility to scale up the volumes. To improve the quality, we give farming training and even hire an agronomist to assist the farmers doubling their yield. And we plan to expand our sales to other markets in order to get higher prices for our products.”

“And what also is important, is that we now have the financial means to keep a stock, which allows us to buy the spices directly from the farmer at harvest time. Whereas before, we had to find a buyer for the herbs first. This gives the farmer more financial security. We try to improve things, work conditions and a living income, for farmers. If their production and quality increases, we all benefit”, Paul adds.

There’s lots of scope to make impact to make with the Invest International financing. That impact is also reflected in the SDGs:

• SDG8 (Decent work and economic growth): additional employment of fulltime and seasonal jobs but also indirect jobs such as drivers, who transport the spices. All employees already receive living wages and have good working conditions.
• SDG1 (No poverty): the number of farmers receiving good prices for their (organic) spices will increase from 1,500 to 4,000.
• SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production): Trianon assists farmers in making their farming system more sustainable and reducing post-harvest losses.
• SDG 15 (Life on land): Trianon actively works with the farmers to combat land degradation, making their farming system more sustainable. This will have a positive impact as well on the surrounding mountain ecosystem, maintaining the high biodiversity in the rainforest areas surrounding the farms in Tanzania.
• SDG 13 (Climate action): Trianon assists the farmers to establish regenerative agroforestry systems, such as capturing carbon.