Nathalie's Direct Trade
Nathalie's Direct Trade (NTD)
Building markets for socially and environmentally sustainable functional food products from Colombia that create value for everybody along the chain: from the poor farmer to the end-consumer.
BCTA MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Alumni
SECTOR
Agriculture, Food & Beverage
HEADQUARTERS
Sweden
REGION OF INITIATIVE
Latin America & Caribbean
SDG CONTRIBUTION
RELATED NEWS
The Impact Goal
Nathalie's Direct Trade joined Business Call to Action in August 2017 with a commitment to purchase organic-certified produce from Colombian small-scale farmers to improve the livelihoods of at least 300 smallholders by 2020. By that same year, the company also pledged to enhance the livelihoods of at least 200 processors and packagers in its value chain.
In 2021, Nathalie's Direct Trade renewed its membership with a commitment to engage 986 small-scale organic farmers in Colombia through local partnerships, to have 200 indirect employees in its value chain through its local partners, and to reduce post-harvest losses for over 1700 low-income producers by certifying organic farmlands by the end of 2024.
The Market Gap
40% of Swedish population is a LOHAS - Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability - focused population. It is a strong value-driven target group that wants to eat healthy and tasty food products while making a difference. To meet this demand, transparency from brands is needed. The end consumers seldom know where food products come from, where it’s processed or packed, what the ingredients are, and where their money goes along the value chain. The consumers have concerns with the food industry since it is dominated by a few big players and retailers.
While this is the case in Sweden, small holder producers in Colombia are trapped in poverty because they are far from the value chain and generate low profits from the final products.
The Business Solution
In cooperation with its local partner Fruandes in Colombia, Nathalie’s Direct Trade sources organic certified produce directly from the small-scale farmers. The products are both processed and packed in final consumer packages in the country of origin, thus creating job opportunities in particular for women, since Fruandes has a program for single mothers In this way, the company’s low-income beneficiaries are closely involved in the company’s value chain and a larger share of it goes back to the country of origin. The concept is also known as PICO – Produced in the Country of Origin.
By engaging these farmers and producers in the supply chain avoiding unnecessary middlehands, the farmers have an average of 24 to 25% net margin which is three times higher compared to local market prices. In addition, the women who process and package for the company have fixed employment and gives them workers' rights and insurance in accordance with Colombian Labour Law.
About Nathalie's Direct Trade: Established in 1991, Nathalie's is a feel-good food brand offering tasty and healthy food products, to an increasingly conscious end consumer in the Nordic market. The company, takes pride in the fact that up to 25% of the value chain of their products goes back to local farmers, entrepreneurs and women in the country of origin. Nathalie’s Direct Trade was started off as an enterprise producing marmalade with berries from Subia, Colombia. Now the company has diversified in terms of fruits processed and products offered. Since May 2021, the company is part of the Fuud Group, under whose umbrella the brand gets optimal conditions to scale up and reach or even exceed the goals set in the BCtA program.
Publications & Multimedia
Benefits for farmers when doing Direct Trade
Fruit break with ecofarmer Don Orlando in Colombia
Organic pineapple saving lives in Colombia