Communities

As one of Fyffes strategic sustainability initiatives, the Gender Equality Program aims to identify the challenges to equality faced by women in developing countries and promote their participation as equal partners with men in order to become more active decision-makers and leaders in their job, their families and their communities.

The program was first launched in Honduras and Costa Rica in 2019, and since then, Fyffes has established regular training on gender-based topics for employees, supervisors, and specific groups of leaders in our farms; has improved communication structures within the farms to promote peer-to-peer learning to disseminate the key messages to our employees; and has created Inclusion, Health and Wellbeing committees to act as change agents in the workplace and communities and give workers confidence to tackle inappropriate workplace behavior.

To view our most recent Gender Pay Gap report Click Here!

Fyffes understands the importance of education and its transformative impact on people’s lives. In Central and South America, we support various projects and initiatives that, among other goals, seek to promote school attendance through incentives, financial assistance, and scholarships; recruit and retain trained teachers; and improve schools’ facilities and infrastructure.

Some of our initiatives include the partnership between Fyffes and Fundación Uniban in Colombia to offer scholarships and counseling to low income students; Fyffes “FUNDASOL” foundation in Guatemala, which supports more than 650 students from over 30 local schools each year; and a school attendance incentive program for children of seasonal workers in Honduras that provides school supplies based upon academic progress. We also work in coordination with Plan International, an independent development and humanitarian organization in Honduras, to provide financial support towards teachers’ salaries.

Fyffes takes the health and wellbeing of our employees, their families, and communities seriously, and many of our efforts aim at educating and improving the health conditions of children in communities where our farms are located.

For instance, in Honduras, Fyffes funds and directs a program that provides our employees access to healthcare clinics at our melon farms. Four qualified doctors run these clinics, and they also make weekly visits to local elementary schools, where they provide regular check-ups, vaccinations and medicine at no charge to elementary school students, and counsels parents on the benefits of good hygiene at home. While 15 current students are treated during each doctor’s visit, check-ups are also available for children not attending school.

As unexpected and challenging as the outbreak of COVID-19 has been, at Fyffes we’ve been working since day one to ensure the protection and wellbeing of our employees, consumers and communities at every possible level. 

Many of our initiatives to fight COVID-19 have been focused in Central and South America, where local businesses and their communities are at risk. Fyffes has been supporting independent and small farms with the supply of personal protective equipment such as face masks, gloves and alcohol gel as well as training on protection measures to their workers. In addition, we’ve amplified our efforts to help fight increased food insecurity. Since April 2020, we’ve partnered with several retailers, food banks, non-profit and non-governmental organizations in the US, Latin America, and Europe to donate and distribute thousands of pounds of melons, bananas and pineapples to families in need. Our melon farms in Honduras have also ensured that thousands of our melons, watermelons and bananas were donated to residents of communities near our farms.

Summer marks the end of the melon growing season in Honduras and Guatemala, and each year Fyffes supports seasonal workers who seek to supplement their earnings during the off-season.

In Honduras, Fyffes provides farmland, equipment and technical assistance for seasonal workers to grow and sell their own crops. This past summer, 15 communities in Choluteca produced over 1.5 million pounds of corn and beans on 570 acres of land, which was used for their own consumption and to sell locally. In Guatemala, Fyffes produces 9 million pounds corn in its melon farms during the off-season, and through a partnership with the Mayor’s Offices of Estanzuela and Asuncion Mita, 20% of the production was reserved to be sold at cost value and donated to families in need. In addition, this year Fyffes set up a food bank of rice and beans, and a corn production reserve to sell at cost value or give out to families in need over the summer. This initiative benefited over 1,000 families in our growing communities in Honduras.

Fyffes understands the importance of reducing food waste and its effect on climate change and our planet. A third of all food produce is wasted contributing to 7% of carbon emissions globally. Fyffes reduces food waste by donating surplus food to communities, which also contributes to reducing poverty and hunger.

As part of our Sustainability Strategy we have committed to reducing food loss in all our own operations by 80% by 2030, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3. Additionally, we have been continuously working with qualified partners to donate our surplus food to provide those in need with healthy meals in our local communities. We continue to work alongside many qualified partners such as Philabundance (US), FoodCloud (Ireland), FareShare (UK) and Global Foodbanking Network (Latin America) as well as many other organisations.

Here at Fyffes we aim to educate our people on healthy eating habits and food waste minimisation.

If you are interested on how to add this to everyday life at home click here!

Global FoodWaste Target