WISSE programme completed
A big ‘thank you’ to the MARIPOSA Friends for their continuous support of the Latin America palm oil industry. Last September, we were able to complete WISSE, a 3-year programme aimed to help smallholders in Honduras becoming sustainable entrepreneurs. By the end of the programme 1666 smallholders were trained and 352 achieved certification. A resounding success on the project, for more details and to hear participants feedback please check out the full report.
Olenex releases Sustainability report #2 – 2021
Rotterdam, December 17th, 2021 – The new Sustainability Update Edition #2 has recently been released. Important topics as the ADM and Wilmar International joint statement, committing to a sectoral roadmap consistent with a 1.5C pathway, the 100% RSPO SG sustainability achievement in the Hamburg production plant “Noblee”, as well as the Coconut sector project, the supplier report tool (SRT), and the MARIPOSA programmes and the latest Traceability news are included in this report.
You can download the full report here.
WISSE programme praised on Hondurian news
Rotterdam, December 13th, 2021 – The positive impact of the WISSE programme – under the Olenex MARIPOSA initiative – has been reported on Honduran television.
The Asapalsa mill hosted a group of reporters in a training demonstration of the programme.
A journalist on the Honduran MV news show praised the initiative for pointing to “the importance of implementing good agricultural practices, commitments to nature, people and sustainability.”
#SustainabilityIsOurSharedResponsibility
WISSE Annual Report 2020 just released
MARIPOSA funding has helped 200 Smallholders to become certified
WISSE is the first programme under MARIPOSA, a crowdfunding initiative created by Olenex together with its customers. By implementing programmes like WISSE, Olenex customers are able to directly contribute to change on the ground in the Latin American palm oil industry. A great example of #SharedResponsibility.
The Coronavirus also has an impact on WISSE. During spring-time, when the virus hit Honduras, the farmers and the local training team had to quickly adapt to the new situation. The pandemic forced us to innovate on our outreach and training approach. Instead of training sessions in rooms packed with people, trainers now meet preferably outside with fewer people, while respecting social distancing rules and wearing masks. We further developed short animated videos and graphics that can be sent via messaging services to those farmers with smartphones. All the measures were effectively taken to protect the farmers and staff from infection while continuing the training sessions and audits.
First group of smallholders certified
During this first WISSE year, we already achieved great certification results; 200 certified smallholders. This success was only possible because the respective smallholders and mills already participated in the previous smallholder programme WISSH (Wilmar Smallholder Support Honduras) and continued their sustainability efforts after WISSH came to an end in 2018. Through the WISSE programme:
- Honducaribe palm oil mill received RSPO MB certification status. This mill is owned by smallholder farmers.
- 100 smallholders, belonging to eight cooperatives of the Honducaribe palm oil mill, received RSPO certification.
- 100 smallholders from two cooperatives and 18 independent farms were added to ISCC certification of Palmasa palm oil mill.
The project coordinators are optimistic that we can still continue the certification efforts in 2021. However, a lot will depend on how the Coronavirus situation will evolve.
For more information see WISSE’s first year’s status report here.