Allanblackiaspecial edition 2016

the project in short

What is Allanblackia?

read about the partners

Who is involved?

Making ithappen.

a sustainable supply chain

Growing a brighter

future

Allanblackia

page

4-5 What is allanblackia? Characteristics of an indigenous African tree

6-9 How is allanblackia harvested? Allanblackia from tree to oil

10-11 Recognition & appreciation for hard work

12-13 Flora Ekologisk Believing in the future of allanblackia

14-15 Building a sustainable allanblackia supply chain Working in partnership

16-18 African coworkers; who are they? A closer look to the people that make it happen

19 Quotes

Content

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The allanblackia tree can be found in the wet tropical belt of Africa, covering countries like Ghana and Nigeria in the West, up to Tanzania in the east. These giant 30 meter high trees produce massive fruit pods, the seeds of which contain up to 40% pure oil. These seeds can be pressed to extract the perfect oil ingredient, used in our margarines.

The reason this oil has so much potential is related to its unique composition of fatty acids and triglycerides. These give the oil excellent properties for use in food products like spreads and margarines. However, this oil is currently available in limited quantities only, which does not allow large scale production yet. As opposed to commodity oils like palm oil, sunflower oil and soybean oil that are produced on multi-million tonne scale, there are only a few hundred tonnes of allanblackia oil available in the entire world.

Unilever co-founded the Allanblackia Partnership in 2002, together with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and local African partners.

What is Allanblackia?

Characteristics of an indigenous African tree

This ‘public-private-partnership’ aims to increase the production of allanblackia oil in a sustainable way and establish a long-term commercially viable supply chain. In addition to generating profitable growth, the Allanblackia Partnership is also committed to ensuring economic benefits and helping to conserve biodiversity through landscape restoration and re-forestation.

In many places in Africa, the allanblackia tree population has

wet tropical belt

been in steep decline over the last few decades. This loss is mainly due to the fact that allanblackia seeds were hardly used, as it was not being recognized for its oil, whereas the tree was mainly used for its timber. By using allanblackia seed oil, our project is a huge step towards conserving the tree in the African forest landscape and sustainably harvesting its fruits as a ‘cash crop’. Unilever and its partners aim to take this further by planting allanblackia seedlings to grow new trees, in order to increase the future supply and help restoring the African forests landscape in the region.

Massive fruit podsup to 7 kg

the seeds contain up to 40% oil

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Especially in Tanzania, the allanblackia fruits are being harvested for their seeds which are then pressed in order to obtain the pure allanblackia oil. People from the local communities head out into the surrounding forests and collect the seeds from the fruits they find. These fruits naturally drop down when they are ripe. Hence there is no hard labor involved in the allanblackia harvesting process. The seeds are then dried in the sun and sold to one of the sourcing partners, providing valuable income to people in the region.

How is Allanblackia harvested?Allanblackia from tree to oil

Allanblackia is the largest indigenous fruit of Africa. This fruit weighs on average 4 kg, but can grow even bigger and weigh up to 7 kg! The allanblackia tree grows in counties like Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon, but it can also be found on farm lands. Currently, in Tanzania around 25,000 people benefit from the allanblackia production through the families that collect the seeds.

One of the local communities

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Tatu Ramadhani

Tatu Ramadhani is one of them. Her husband is a smallholder farmer in Tanzania and began harvesting allanblackia seeds 3 years ago. The additional income she receives allows her to send her children to school and buy household goods such as kerosene, cooking oil, soap and salt.

Tatu usually goes into the forest early in the morning during harvesting season to collect fallen fruits. Mature fruits fall to the ground which makes them easily accessible.

Back in the village, she extracts the seeds and lays them out to dry on a raised platform. Families commonly form smallholders groups that work together to prepare the seeds for collection.

The dried seeds are then brought to collection centers where a trained clerk inspects the seeds for quality and weight. The village clerk pays the farmer a fixed price for the seeds.

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In Tanzania, the collected seeds are transported to an oil mill in the city of Tanga in the Northeast of the country. There the seeds are gently heated and crushed to produce the oil in a natural process. Some 6 fruit pods can contain approximately 3 kg of seeds, from which about one liter of oil can be obtained.

After crushing the seeds, the oil is transferred into a sea container and shipped to Europe where it will be used in products such as our Flora margarine.

Sustainable production brings the most benefits!

The harvest of allanblackia seeds allows local communities to earn an additional income, as the harvest time of allanblackia is during a relatively quiet period of the season for farmers, not overlapping with the harvesting of other crops. As it is relatively easy, both men and women can take part in the harvesting. Many women use this extra income, for example, to buy household goods or pay for their children’s school fees. Therefore it really does benefit the whole community on a much deeper level.

seeds layed out to dry

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Obviously we want this harvesting to be carried out in a way that is socially and environmentally sustainable. To make sure we understand what that actually means and how to achieve it, the Allanblackia Partnership has teamed up with the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) and the International Union for the conservation of nature (IUCN) to develop guidelines for how to produce allanblackia seed oil benefitting the local communities and the environment. This project was supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and resulted in a special UEBT Guide on the wild-harvesting of allanblackia.

In June 2014 the allanblackia supply chain was audited for the first time and approved against the Ethical Biotrade Standard for harvesting, set up by the ‘Union for Ethical Biotrade (UEBT, www.ethicalbiotrade.org).

The Unilever ‘Sustainable Sourcing Development team’ reviewed the UEBT standard as well as the audit report and concluded that allanblackia oil can also be called ‘sustainably sourced’ following Unilever’s own criteria for sustainable and responsible sourcing of raw materials (Unilever Sustainable Agricultural Code).

Recognition & appreciation for hard work

In 2012 Unilever received a World Business and Development Award at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. The award recognizes our work with tea and allanblackia farmers in Africa, implementing ‘inclusive business’ models that deliver both commercial success and that help improve social, environmental and economic conditions. In 2010, the International Year of Bio-diversity, Unilever won a Biodiversity Innovation Award from the Union for Ethical BioTrade. This recognized our work on allanblackia and in particular the development of a business model to promote conservation while generating income for smallholder farmers in Africa.

The jury recommended our commitment to small-scale farming systems and partnership with environmental NGOs. The initiative has drawn positive feedback from our external partners and key stakeholders as well.

For more information, visit the website of the Allanblackia Partnership: www.allanblackiapartners.org

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Unilever’s role in the development of a sustainable supply chain for allanblackia seed oil has been, and still is, instrumental. Through the launch of the Flora Ekologisk, we have secured a product outlet, which provides confidence in the future of allanblackia oil with our African partners, collectors, growers and our consumers.

In early 2000, the allanblackia oil was brought to the attention of Unilever by a local community in Ghana. This local community wondered whether the allanblackia oil could be used by Unilever. A sample was sent to the Unilever R&D facilities in Vlaardingen. The unique melting properties of allanblackia oil that were found, along with the promise of developing a sustainable supply chain, made Unilever explore the application of this unique oil as an ingredient. We soon discovered that allanblackia oil was perfect for making margarines.

In September 2014, Unilever launched the Becel Gold wrapper in Sweden. This was the first margarine in the world to contain allanblackia seed oil, and this remarkable achievement was the result of extensive R&D work spanning over 15 years.

Flora Ekologisk Believing in the future of allanblackia

We are now extending the application of allanblackia seed oil, launching the Flora Ekologisk in Sweden, in close collaboration with the marketing teams. From a brand development perspective introducing an ingredient that consumers don’t know is a challenge. However the naturalness- and sustainability credentials of allanblackia seed oil are something we proudly want to talk about to our consumers, supported by our partners in the Allanblackia Partnership.

The production of allanblackia oil is benefiting local communities. This also helped Unilever developing good relationships with growers and establish planting of allanblackia trees on their land as a result. Growers call allanblackia their ‘pension crop’. Why? These trees take at least 7 years before they start flowering and another 7 years to become really productive, so everyone is really committed for the long term. But everybody believes it’s worth the wait!

By using allanblackia seed oil, Flora Ekologisk contributes to restoring and conserving the forest landscape, while offering additional income to local communities especially in Tanzania.

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Building a sustainable allanblackia supply chain Working in partnership

Since 2006, the Allanblackia Partnership has been working on strengthening the domestication program of the allanblackia tree, building nurseries to grow seedlings.

This domestication program has especially been driven by our research partners the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Novel Development Tanzania (NDTL), Nigeria Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA), the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) and FORM International. Their experience plays a significant role in supplying seedlings to local growers. Allanblackia nurseries in Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria have now produced close to 200,000 seedlings that have been planted by local farmers.

Currently allanblackia mainly comes from the harvesting method described earlier. However in the coming years we expect to see more and more allanblackia coming from smallholder farms, where farmers have been planting allanblackia seedlings since 2006, alongside other crops such as clover, cardamom, plantain, cocoa and cassava.

This co-cropping has even benefits for the farmers as young allanblackia seedlings grow better under the shade of the cocoa trees. However when fully grown, the bigger allanblackia tree will provide shade that in turn benefits the smaller cocoa trees. This growth strategy for the allanblackia supply chain takes time, but best benefits the small-holder farmers and local communities.

Next to our research partners mentioned above, further members of the Allanblackia Partnership are the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

They help and ensure that the future development of allanblackia is done in an environmentally sound and socially responsible way throughout the different steps of the supply chain. Additional work funded by SECO included the development of best-practice guidelines for the harvesting and assessments of ways to use the tree in forest landscape restoration.

The Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) is a non-profit association that promotes the ‘Sourcing with Respect’ of ingredients that come from biodiversity. Members adopt sourcing practices that advance sustainable business growth, local development and biodiversity conservation.

UEBT provides training to farmers and collectors to align their practices with the UEBT ‘Ethical-Biotrade standard’. Allanblackia oil from Tanzania was approved by this standard mid-2014.

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African co-workers; who are they?A closer look to the people that make it happen

Amire Mzonge, 50 years, farmer in the village of Shambangeda in Mhuheza

district, Tanzania.

“With the help of Novel Tanzania we get a fair price for the allanblackia seeds. In 2014 our village comprising 92 farmers, collected 10 tonnes of seeds. This allows our children to attend school. Allanblackia has become one of the main sources of income for our community. Therefore we humbly request Novel Tanzania and the other stakeholders to continue and ensure a market outlet for our seeds. We expect an increased production from the trees planted in our village in the coming years. Our farmers have already planted 1500 trees and will continue to do so on our farms!”

Mwanaidi Kijazi, Conservator of the Amani

Nature Reserve, Muheza district, Tanzania.

“We have been working together with Unilever to promote allanblac-kia with farmers for many years. We have set-up nurseries and gave seedlings to farmers to plant. Over 10 years these trees will be fruiting. Will Unilever still be there? That is my main question to you and our biggest worry!”

Rehema Bilunda

Rehema Bilunda is clerk in the village of Mlesa (Mhuheza district, Tanzania). She earns an additional income for each ‘market day’ plus a commission on the volume of allanblackia seeds bought. This doubles the family income during harvest season.

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Agnes is a farmer who owns 1.5ha of land. She has planted 16 allanblackia trees, next to cardamom, pepper, banana, avocado, papaya, jack fruit and sugar cane. She hopes for the trees that were planted in 2006, to eventually deliver her some 500kg of seeds per year. This will provide her family with an additional income.

Richard Rutangilo has been a clerk in the village of Mlalo (Mhuheza district, Tanzania) since the beginning of the harvesting in Tanzania in 2003 and understands the process:

“We buy the seeds from the farmers and send them to Unilever in Holland. It is great to see Unilever is showing true interest in what we do here and we are proud of the product they make”.

Richard Rutangilo, Mlalo Mhuheza district,

Tanzania.

Agnes Boi village of Mikwimimi,

Tanzania.

“For thousands of rural African households, allanblackia could be an opportunity for improved livelihoods and well-being. Allanblackia also has great potential in contributing to the conservation of the continent’s rich biodiversity. The Union for Ethical BioTrade is pleased to be collaborating with Unilever and other partners in supporting ethical sourcing of allanblackia to make this exciting opportunity come true.”Rik Kutsch, Executive Director for the Union for Ethical BioTrade.

“Unilever is demonstrating its commitment to working directly with African communities and local organisations by supporting improved social and economic sustainability through the Allanblackia Partnership. Together with IUCN and others, the Partnership is exploring opportunities to scale-up restoration-minded production while ensuring that the benefits reach local people.”Chris Buss, Deputy Director Operations, Global Forest and Climate Change Program, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).

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The best moment to plant an allanblackia tree is 20 years ago.The second best moment is today.