Distribution Of COVID-19 Relief And Prevention Materials to Fairtrade Sri Lankan Plantations

The first phase i.e the ‘Distribution of Protective Gears and Medical Equipment’ was organised in Jan through the facilitation of Fairtrade NAPP. The activity covered 23 tea estates and 02 flower gardens benefitting 16,920 plantation workers.

''On behalf of the Estate Management firstly, I take this opportunity to thank Fairtrade International for providing all the timely needed safety materials to our workers who work in the frontline and approach COVID-19, infected people. We have received face shields, safety boots, disinfectants, and hand sanitisers. This has ensured a safe to work environment for both our tea plantation and health workers'' – T Gnanawander, Fairtrade Officer of Dickoya Estate

A COVID-19 Prevention Task Force consisting of 25 to 30 men and women were formed as independent volunteer teams for each estate to prevent the spread of infection among the workers in the tea gardens and to distribute the medical essentials and protective gears which included thermal scanners, hazmat suits, face shields, gloves, safety boots, and KN 95 masks.

Distribution Of Water Purifiers For Providing Access To Safe Drinking Water To 200 Fairtrade Small-Scale Farmers In Sri Lanka!

In Sri Lanka to support the small-scale farmers in the region of Matale, Hakmana and Puttalam get access to clean drinking water, a project under the ‘COVID-19 Fairtrade Emergency Initiative’ was implemented by Fairtrade International. Through the Project, water purifiers were distributed by NAPP to 200 Fairtrade farmers (143 male and 57 female) benefitting 879 households in the community.

This Project is funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and supported by GIZ, German Agency for International Cooperation .

H W Sriyani, a woman farmer at SAFENET has been farming for the past 30 years. Her family gets their daily water supply from the well water which is pumped into their storing tank. About 5% of their daily water supply comes from tap water.

With a family of 05 members, she is especially concerned about the health of her children and aged parents.

She mentions, ”Here the majority of the farmers use well water which is at the same level with the paddy field that is contaminated and has the potential to adversely affect our health. Even the tap water that comes through the water supply is high in chlorine content. The water filter will provide us drinking water with a better taste and smell. It will remove any unsafe materials from our drinking water and help the farmers and their families get access to clean drinking every day without a worry.’’

Distribution of Food Packs to workers in Strathdon estate, Hatton Plantation

Food insecurity has been one of the major crises faced by rural households across Asia and the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified their vulnerabilities even more. In Sri Lanka, through support from the BMZ fund, food packs were distributed to 785 households in the Strathdon estate of Hatton Plantation. The estate has an aggregate population of 4430 people with an average household of 5 members. The relief activity has also benefitted 3645 indirect beneficiaries reaching approximately 2268 women in the households. The ration distributed will be enough to last for an entire month for an average household.

Recovery and Resilience activities for small scale producers!

The project intervention targets all Fairtrade-certified smallholder producer organizations in Sri Lanka and is based on the most pressing needs of the farmers to recover from the adverse economic impact of COVID19, as well as build resilience to future risks.

Impacts:

8 Small scale producer organization with more than 4311 farmers have installed their own organic fertilizer facilities. The training was provided to a group of farmers by the Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Sri Lanka and a plan has been laid down by the producers for sourcing all the raw materials required for making organic fertilizers with the waste from the factory and cattle shed on organic land, etc.

3500 farmer families belonging to a small-scale multi-product producer organisation were able to procure materials to construct 15 liquid manure centers. 35 Liquid manure centers have been additionally repaired. Spray tanks have also been procured to disseminate fertilizers. The project aims to supply the total annual fertilizer requirement of the society farmers.

505 farmer members of multi Fairtrade producer organisation have enabled value addition through the establishment of a primary processing center to meet international demands and to improve product quality and sales. The processing center is fully equipped with sun drying trays, cabinet dryer, pepper grader, winnower and decorticator, green berry thresher, and shifter and blanching units.

4 Small producer organisation with 350 farmers with 1200 households has installed vegetable plants and seedling nurseries to improve family food security /nutrition for their members as well as to help diversify their income sources.