One of North America’s leading papaya importers, HLB Specialties, has announced that its main Golden Papaya supplier, Caliman Agrícola, has been awarded a Fairtrade Certificate by FLO-Cert.
Caliman is one the world’s largest papaya growers and with more than 35 years of experience, and is the oldest Brazilian Papaya grower with a Fairtrade Certificate. Indeed, according to Fairtrade America, there are only a handful of countries that have growers with the certificate.
“Being in compliance with Fairtrade standards and FLO-Cert certification requirements is an important step toward ensuring our customers that we are serious about providing them with healthy products that were produced fair and ethically,” notes Melissa Hartmann de Barros, HLB Specialties’ director of communications.
Aside from having a Fairtrade certificate, Caliman Agrícola also participates in several other social programmes that support their over 700 employees, such as a “basic basket”, which is a monthly bonus package given to every employee that contains basic food items, such as rice, beans, flour, oil, as well as toiletries and cleaning products. All employees are also offered health insurance for themselves and dependents as well as complimentary yearly check-ups and access to an on-site infirmary.
Brazil is the second largest papaya producing and exporting country, and HLB Specialties is the main distributor of Brazilian papayas worldwide, through offices in the US and Germany. The group is the biggest importer of Brazilian papayas into the US and Canada and accounts for 60 per cent of the Golden papaya market share.
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