SUSTAINABLE SHEA SOURCINGCREATING POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE GROUND

Collection and ProcessingThe women of the communities collect the fallen nuts from June to August. Nuts are processed by the women, directly sold to the Bunge Loders Croklaan (BLC) network and transported to local crushers. Only the excess harvest is sold by the women, who are free to collect the nuts and sell the nuts to the highest bidder. The sale and export of shea butter doesn’t compete with the local food supply.

Food and Non-Food UsesShea is used in both food and non-food products. It is commonly used in cosmetics and is typically listed as karité. Shea is also used for food manufacturing, primarily for the confectionery and bakery industry. Its most common use is as an ingredient in cocoa butter alternatives.

Building a Sustainable Shea Supply Chain The BLC Shea Sustainability program builds on our overall vision to create supply chains that are transparent, verified sustainable and create positive impact on the ground in support of

the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As an active member of the Global Shea Alliance, BLC has implemented sustainability projects to donate tools that enhance the women’s safety, improve their physical well-being and make the collection process more efficient. BLC has also contributed to programs designed to increase the value and quality of the collected crop, such as building ware-houses and donating energy-efficient stoves, which in turn increases the financial gain for the women’s cooperative groups.

Focusing on Empowering WomenBLC works closely with our own network of suppliers in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. 60% of our supply is ISCC+ certified and annually audited. BLC works together with these partners in various sustainability projects focusing on women empowerment: education and health, environmental management and socio- economic development.

Shea butter comes from a nut and is a wild harvest crop that grows in the West African Savannah park lands. The trees do not grow on plantations and require no use of fertilizers or pesticides. A shea tree bears fruit after 15 to 20 years and the tree reaches maturity after 45 years. One tree provides approximately 25-55kg nuts per year.

SHEA, A SUSTAINABLE CROP

Project Impact to date 2019

Future ambition > 2020

SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs)

Environmental management

Landscape restoration/replanting (nursery) activities. 2000 seedlings

>6000 seed-lings per year

Energy efficient stoves using 40% less firewood compared to the traditional three-stone-fire method. This results in CO2 reduction and supports women by spending less time on firewood collection and cooking. Stoves are locally produced by an NGO based in Burkina Faso: Nafa Naana. Additional training is provided by the manufacturer of the stoves.

400 stoves distributed; impacting 5000 women

>600 stovesper year

Health & Education

Training on shea processing and shea parkland management for women groups to increase knowledge and improve the quality of the nuts and yield. BLC supports the Sustainability Program of one of their main suppliers in Benin. This program focuses on women empowerment through training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and business development.

3646 women trained

>6000 womenper year

SOS children villages Burkina Faso BLC supports Social Centers and SOS families to ensure vulnerable children have access to essential material, education and health and social services. BLC will finance a water reservoir in one of the gardening sites to ensure the land is suitable for agricultural activities. Income generated from these activities can be used to pay school fees of the children in the SOS families.

90 families; 800+ children

>100 familiesand theirchildren peryear

Co-finance the construction of a school in a village that supplies to BLC.

470 women shea collectors and 123 children

Support access to education

Socio – Economic Development

Local processing: The shea nuts are crushed locally and the shea butter is further processed in our plant in Tema, Ghana.

90% of shea nuts are crushed locally, 89 direct employees, 347 indirect employees

>90% localcrushing

Shea rollers to increase yield, limit collection time and prevent collectors from snake and scorpion bites and physical strain.

800 rollers; impacting 4000 women

>800 rollersper year

Support the construction of warehouses at community level for women collectors to store their nuts. The quality of the nuts is preserved and larger quantities can be sold, resulting in higher incomes.

1 warehouse in Ghana sup por-ting around 500 women.

1 warehouse per year

CREATING POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE GROUND

BLC works together with partners in various sustainability projects focusing on women empowerment.

Shea nut collectors

Local crushers

Local Solvent Fractionation Plant

Refineries Food and Non-Food Manufacturers

Consumers

Sheabutter

The Shea Dashboard serves as an online platform to communicate BLC’s shea traceability information and sustainability progress in the shea supply chain. The dashboard can be found our website and is updated quarterly.

Shea Dashboard

Traceability to district level ISCC Certified volumes sourced**

Bunge Loders Croklaan Group

77%

93%

Burkina Faso

99%

100%

Ivory Coast

0%

0%

Mali

77%

50%

Ghana

0%

100%

0%

100%

Benin

Traceability to district level ISCC Certified volumes sourced**

Bunge Loders Croklaan Group

77%

93%

Burkina Faso

99%

100%

Ivory Coast

0%

0%

Mali

77%

50%

Ghana

0%

100%

0%

100%

Benin

Environmental Management

Human Rights and Workplace

Economic Development

Traceability Numbers *

* Numbers from January 2019 - March 2019 ** Market driven *** Numbers for season 2018/2019 driven

Sustainable Shea Sourcing Practices

Detailed traceability numbers

Global shea alliance membership

Our projects

MAY 2019

Shea Rollers Donation In Benin

Bunge Loders Croklaan Sustainability Newsletter

KNOW THE ORIGIN OF OUR SHEA NUTS

LATEST NEWS

LINKS

SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM

ENGAGEMENT VOLUMES SOURCED

Bunge Loders Croklaan shea fractionation plant in Tema, Ghana commissioning 2019

Distribution of shea rollers

Number of women trained

Local crushing of shea nuts ***

West Africa Other

Distribution of energy efficient stoves

300

3689

2000

5 (trial)

2016 2017 2018 2019

0 20 40 60 80 100

11%89%

2018 2019

0

100

200

300

400

300

104

400

0

100

200

300

400

300

3689

2000

5 (trial)

2016 2017 2018 2019

0 20 40 60 80 100

11%89%

2018 2019

0

100

200

300

400

300

104

400

0

100

200

300

400

300

3689

2000

5 (trial)

2016 2017 2018 2019

0 20 40 60 80 100

11%89%

2018 2019

0

100

200

300

400

300

104

400

0

100

200

300

400

300

3689

2000

5 (trial)

2016 2017 2018 2019

0 20 40 60 80 100

11%89%

2018 2019

0

100

200

300

400

300

104

400

0

100

200

300

400

Number of permanent employees in West Africa

79 direct employees 320 indirect employees

> 30%

> 10% - 30%

0 − 10%

Trees planted

300

3689

2000

5 (trial)

2016 2017 2018 2019

0 20 40 60 80 100

11%89%

2018 2019

0

100

200

300

400

300

104

400

0

100

200

300

400

Mali

Nigeria

IvoryCoast Ghana

Togo

Benin

BurkinaFaso

ADDING VALUE IN WEST AFRICA

Shea has been an important raw material for Bunge Loders Croklaan for more than 50 years. In 2019 BLC opened its first shea butter processing facility in Tema, Ghana which is also the largest shea butter processing plant on the African continent. This investment in Ghana not only strengthens our global shea processing infrastructure, but also supports local crushers and shea collectors in the West African region. It’s an important marker in responsibly delivering sustainable products to our customers and investing in communities where we operate.

INCREASING TRANSPARENCY

BLC SHEA SUPPLY CHAIN

GLOBAL SHEA ALLIANCE

The GSA is a non-profit industry association with 500 members from 35 countries including women’s groups, suppliers, brands and retailers, non-profits, producer national associations, and affiliates members. Through public-private partnerships, the GSA promotes industry sustainability, quality practices and standards, and demand for shea in food and cosmetics.

BLC is a founding member and actively participates in the Executive Board and the Sustainability Working Group (SWG) of the GSA. The SWG is committed to promote sustainable practices in the shea industry focusing on women’s empowerment, decent working conditions, development of local communities and the protection of eco systems.

www.bungeloders.com