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Peter van der Linde
Partnership director
Verstegen: Discovering a nutmeg’s journey
Verstegen Spices & Sauces embraces full traceability and radical transparency to strengthen nutmeg smallholder farmers’ positions in their supply chains.
Verstegen’s transparency journey
What started with an ambitious pilot for one batch of nutmeg in 2019, blossomed into a fully traceable supply chain for all the nutmeg Verstegen is selling in the Netherlands. The nutmeg farmers grew their income from nutmeg with 4% thanks to a premium for both quality and and for their contribution to data sharing, which facilitated traceability.
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Some project highlights
Raising the farmers’ income
Raising the nutmeg farmers’ income, strengthening their position in the supply chain and ensuring long-term, trusted and equal trade relationships. Those are some of the most important objectives of Verstegen and Fairfood’s partnership. Today, we can report that the farmers’ income from nutmeg increased with 4% thanks to a Quality Premium and a Data Premium that Verstegen is now paying them: additional payments for quality products and for the data the farmers share in order to make the nutmeg fully traceable.
Digital inclusion of remote farmers
Yes, data. Because digitising the supply chain was a crucial step in realising full traceability and transparency. As such, paper receipts were replaced by close to real-time data, resulting in a digital paper trial for the nutmeg. To include the most remote of nutmeg farmers, who may not always have a mobile phone or internet at their disposal, we introduced the Farmer Cards: every farmer gets their own personal card, that is scanned with every nutmeg transaction, thus storing that transaction in their personal account. Moreover, this is providing the farmer with access to a digital ledger containing all their nutmeg transactions.
Read more in this case study by USAID
Going transparent
This all lead to this moment where Dutch consumers can discover who the people are behind their nutmeg, simply by scanning a QR code on the nutmeg’s packaging (or clicking the button below). Donintje, Yosi, Alwina and Levi, for example. Discover the other farmers and the actual proof of the story we are sharing on this page in the storytelling interface.
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Nutmeg farmer Astrid shares some thoughts
Astrid Maluhu is one of the nutmeg farmers behind the nutmeg that’s now available in Dutch supermarkets. She shares some thoughts on the project.
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