Board

Mr Pravakar Meher, NAPP Chair

Fairtrade Product  Category– Cotton 

Fairtrade Producer Category-Contract  Production (PB)

Country – India

Region- South Asia

Mr. Pravakar hails from a very non descript town Titilagarh in Orissa. He is second generation family working in cotton sector .With a humble beginning his father initial started a cotton ginning factory in nineties. Later when the family business started dwindling he thought to support his father but quickly he realized that he has to leave his well paid MNC job and comfortable life in city to toil in the soil and work with the marginalized farmers.

Being an engineering graduate and having good exposure of technology not only helped him to turn around his family business fortune but he also brought drastic changes in his area by encouraging farmers to go for the native varieties of cotton and adopting Organic practices that led to better yield and quality of cotton fiber .It immensely helped the marginalized farmers in realizing better returns on their produce.

One of his dream is to enable farmers to become part of sustainable value chain by creating an ecosystem within the industry that works for the weakest link in supply chain.

Ms. Rosemarie Sumalinog Gonzales
Vice- Chair

Fairtrade Product Category – Coconut

Fairtrade Producer Category-Small Producer Organisation

Country – Philippines

Region- South East Asia

Ms. Rosemarie Sumalinog Gonzales is a farmer, cooperative leader, international researcher, and expert writer specializing in qualitative and quantitative studies. She has completed her graduation in Computer Science, Information Technology, Education, and Linguistics, and holds a Master’s degree in Information Technology.

She has also undertaken training in Economic Financial Analysis, Export Marketing, Parliamentary Procedures, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), Enterprise Operation Manual (EOM), Fairtrade and Organic Standards, and in formulating Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) from Farm to Market.

As a part of her advocacy work being a farmer herself, she actively participates in Cooperative affairs, especially within her organization- Fairtrade Farmers Coconut Multipurpose Cooperative (FFCC) in the Philippines where she has served as the Secretary for 10 years, sharing her expertise and in making business plans, feasibility studies, project proposals, and market research. She is currently the chairperson of the Election Committee (ELECOM).

Mr. Shailesh Patel
Board Member

Fairtrade Product Category – Cotton 

Fairtrade Producer Category-Small Producer Organisation

Country – India

Region- South Asia

Mr. Shailesh Patel is a post-graduate in Rural Studies with a specialization in  Rural economics from Bhavnagar University. He currently works as the CEO and founder Member of Rapar and Dhrangadhra Farmers Producer company Ltd in Gujarat, a  Fairtrade cotton Small Producer Organisation. The SPO has been successfully working in the Fairtrade system for the last six years after converting to SPO from Contract Production with an increase in the numbers of farmers, volume, and sales turnover every year.

Mr. Shailesh Patel also worked at Agrocel Industries Ltd for 18 years as a Project Manager for Fairtrade Organic product and Fair trade development activity where they developed 02 producer groups under CP standard which was later converted under the SPO standard for cotton and Rice.

He has extensive experience working with Fairtrade for the past 23 years with different products such as cotton, peanut, basmati rice, and raisin. He has also served as the first board member of NAPP in 2008 and was involved in forming the Fair trade Cotton Development Committee. To date, he has implemented various international projects for community-based sustainable development with the support from various brands and institutes like Shell Foundation, GIZ, M&S, etc.

Mr. Raghavendra Prabhakar Shastry
Board Member

Fairtrade Product  Category– Coffee

Fairtrade Producer Category-Small Producer Organisation

Country – India

Region- South Asia

Mr. Raghavendra Shastry is a Coffee and Spice Producer, Exporter, and also a Director of the Fairtrade producer organization- Malenadu Savayava Krishi Parivar located in the Western Ghat of  Southern India. After completing his B.E in Chemical Engineering in 1996 he has been dedicated to organic and Fairtrade agricultural activities right from production and processing to marketing. His organisation now supports over 8000 farmers producing diverse organic certified products such as coffee, spices, etc on more than 10000Ha of land.

He holds 20+ years of experience in Farmer Producer Organisation promoting skill development, coffee, and spice production, processing, organic and Fairtrade certification, and value addition. He holds experience in Farmer’s Training and in promoting schemes of NHM, SFAC, Spice Board, Coffee Board, Agriculture Depts, and in leading communication with PACS(primary society),Women SHG(selfhelp group) in order to sort their problems regarding production, finance activities.

He also has hands-on experience in managing Nursery, Planting, INM, and IPM and post Harvesting. In the past, he has received multiple awards from the Govt. of Karnataka as the best organic farmer and for best exporter and manufacturer.

Mr. Edirisinghe Arachchillage Nandakumara,

Board  Member

Fairtrade Product  Category– Tea

Fairtrade Producer Category-Small Producer Organisation

Country – Sri Lanka

Region- South Asia

Mr. Ediri Singhe Arachchillage Nandakumara is the President of Small Organic Growers Association, Sri Lanka. He manages the organic tea cultivation and ensures the human resource department works in compliance with the requirements of the international certification system such as Fairtrade Labelling Organization.

Mr. Rattapraseud NHOUYVANISVONG, 

Board Member

( Lao PDR, Representative of Thai-Lao -Myanmar Network)

Fairtrade Product  Category– Coffee

Fairtrade Producer Category-Small Producer Organisation

Country – Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Region- Southeast Asia

Mr. Rattapraseud Nhouyvanisvong has completed his education in Master of Electronics Engineering from France. After working there in the telecommunication enterprise for more than 10 years, he returned to Laos in the early 1990s where he started working with his father who was the first President of the Lao association of coffee exporters in the south of Lao PDR.

From 1998 to 2010, he worked as a Program officer at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), as an administrative and financial manager, in a French-funded Lao Government Rural Development Project, and as a General Manager in a micro-finance institution in the Capital city. Post 2011 he joined the Fairtrade Producer Organisation-Coffee Producers Cooperative (CPC), as its Marketing manager where he was later appointed as its General Manager and then a  Senior adviser.

During the past 20 years, he has been able to acquire experience in Rural development, particularly in the coffee sector. Post-2013 after the formation of the Fairtrade-certified producers Thai-Lao Network, he has been in regular contact with FT- NAPP, through meetings, forums,  and workshops.

Mr. Mitchell Ricky Eno
Board Member

Fairtrade Product  Category– Coffee

Fairtrade Producer Category-Small Producer Organisation

Country – Papua New Guinea

Region- Pacific

Mr. Mitchell Ricky Eno is a Graduate of Commerce (Accountancy) from The Papua New Guinea University of Technology.  A detail-oriented and analytical individual with a proven ability to work in a team and under pressure, while maintaining high levels of accuracy and efficiency.  He has undergone training and hold certificates in Green Coffee Trading Fundamentals and Digital Market Access and Client Engagement.

As a farmer himself, he actively participates in the affairs of his Cooperative (SPO – Highlands Organic Agriculture Cooperative). He is in charge his cooperative compliance activities and manages the SPOs Ecert Portal, Fair Trace and Fair Insight.

Mr. Bahadur Singh Bajwal
Board Member

Fairtrade Product  Category– Rice

Fairtrade Producer Category-Contract Production (PEB)

Country – India

Region- South Asia

Mr. Bahadur Singh is a rice farmer in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, India who has devoted 40 years of his life to organic farming. A farmer with abundant practical experience with on-ground farming systems. Before joining Fairtrade in 2011, he was concerned about the wavering paddy prices of the farmers and always had a passion to work for the betterment of the farming community.

When he got the opportunity to preside over the Farmer producer organization, Fair Farming Foundation in Ramnagar, in the year 2011 and was elected as the Board Member of FT NAPP in 2014,   he saw the global platform as an opportunity to secure a better deal for farmers and workers associated in the organisation.

Due to his persistent efforts to safeguard the interest of the farmers, he has been frequently chosen as the President of the group & still holds that designation. Thanks to his dedication he was re-elected as a Board member in 2023 and remains committed to working for the betterment of the lives & livelihoods of farmers and workers associated with NAPP.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Ha,
Board Member

Fairtrade Product  Category– Coffee

Fairtrade Producer Category-Small Producer Organisation

Country – Vietnam

Region- Southeast Asia

Mr. Nguyen Huu Ha is a seasoned coffee producer who has devoted over 25 years to coffee farming and processing. With expertise in Business Administration and a passion for coffee, he has built and developed a professional coffee production system in the local community of Central Highlands in Vietnam.

During his career, he has devoted himself to supporting local farmers in organic coffee production and benefiting them via Fairtrade Support Services, thereby supporting the local community to develop livelihoods based on sustainable agriculture practices. Currently, he is Chairman of Thuan An Fairtrade Agriculture Cooperative, Vice Chair of Vietnam Fairtrade Producers Network and Executive Committee Member of Vietnam Cooperation Alliance.

Mr. Jayaraman Thangavelu

Board Member

Fairtrade Product  Category– Tea

Fairtrade Producer Category-Hired Labour – Management

Country – India

Region- South Asia

Mr. T. Jayaraman is an Agricultural Graduate from Allahabad Agricultural University. He is currently the Managing Director of Havukal & Warwick Group and has more than 43 years of experience in planting and the tea industry.  In the past, he has served the industry in multiple key roles at various levels including at the District, State, and National levels: Chairman of Nilgiris Planters Association, Member PAT Executive Committee, and  Vice-Chairman, Chairman of the Planters’ Association of Tamil Nadu, Chairman, Vice President and President of the United Planters Association of South India and others.

He has also been conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award & Honorary Fellowship by the  Horticultural Society of India.

Mrs. Sunitha

Board Member

Fairtrade Product  Category– Tea

Fairtrade Producer Category-Hired Labour (Worker)

Country – India

Region- South Asia

Mrs. Sunitha comes from a remote village in Jharkhand.  She came to work in Chamraj Tea Estate which practices organic cultivation in 2011 as a tea plucker and got promoted as Supervisor in the year 2019.  She was elected as a FPC member in 2019 and has been very active in the Committee ever since. She got elected as a Board Member of Fairtrade NAPP in 2023.

Mr. Xinrong Zhao
Board Member

Fairtrade Product  Category– Tea

Fairtrade Producer Category-Small Producer Organisation

Country – China

Region- Central Asia

Mr. Zhao Xinrong is the Vice-chair of the Fairtrade China Small Producers’ Organization and the Chair of Shaoxing Shangyu Graham Tea Farmers Association. He holds a diploma in both Agriculture and Law.

He has been engaged in the production and sales of organic tea since 1999, and in the production and sales of Fairtrade tea since 2011. At present, he is committed to supporting local tea farmers in organic tea planting and production and benefiting small producer organisations through Fairtrade business development, to promote the sustainable development of the tea industry.