Tolaro Global
Tolaro Global is a Benin-based processor of raw cashew nuts. It is Fairtrade and organic certified. In 2010, they dared to change the global cashew industry. The goal is to produce the world’s best cashews through a fair trade, thriving, and sustainable farming community.
Tolaro will train about 2,500 people from Benin's Borgou region a quarter of them women in fair trade and organic practices. With a network of 7,000 farmers supplying the company's factory in Benin, Tolaro works with cooperatives to encourage the technical and economic development of its smallholder cashew farmers. To increase their competency and competitiveness, the company employs a staff agronomist and uses a train-the-trainer methodology to reach thousands of smallholders. Currently the company is helping cooperatives to achieve Fairtrade certification.
By learning and implementing organic cultivation standards, farmers have the potential to increase their earnings by up to 20 percent: 10-15 percent premium paid for Fairtrade and 15-20 percent premium for organic. It is, therefore, possible for a farmers certified in both Fairtrade and organic standards could get up to 35 percent premiums over the market.
Other initiatives include the addition of beekeeping to increase pollination, improve nutrition and provide a source of income. In addition, the company's 600 local men and women employees are being mentored to increase their business skills, and Tolaro is investing in technologies to convert cashew shells into a clean-energy fuel source.
Through all its efforts, Tolaro is supporting an increasing number of women smallholders: in addition to recruiting women farmers, the company is facilitating their enrollment in a training programme focused on nutrition, child and infant care, hygiene, malaria, and finances, which is run by a local NGO,