Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies, which offers the world’s broadest range of health care products, has a longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship. According to Simon Perry, Sustainable Palm Oil Manager for Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies, it is as part of this commitment that the company supports the production of sustainable palm oil.
"Even though our company represents only 0.2% of the world’s consumption of palm oil, we support the production of sustainable palm oil in several ways. One way is through our purchase of Green Palm certificates which benefit the certified sustainable growers,” says Perry. Another way we support sustainable palm oil is through our dedicated palm oil fund, which was established to support field projects. The objective of the fund is to increase the global awareness of sustainable palm oil, increase smallholder yields and optimize land use, continues Perry. We engage with NGO partners to identify and support field projects that advance these objectives.
Why Johnson & Johnson works with Solidaridad Network
Over the last few years, Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies has been working with Solidaridad to support some of their projects across Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.
"One reason we work with Solidaridad is their focus is on driving change at a smallholder level," says Simon Perry, Sustainable Palm Oil Manager, Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies. "Their efforts can help increase the supply of sustainable palm oil, as well as improve the livelihood of the farmers. They have expertise and the ability to connect with the smallholders and partner with other organizations, such as Wild Asia, that helps us to make a difference.”
Indonesian co-funded project
An example of a Solidaridad project co-funded by Johnson & Johnson is the project with Credit Union Keling Kumang (CUKK) in Indonesia. CUKK provides credits to villagers and farmers with the primary aim of poverty alleviation. They have over 100.000 members, of which about 14.000 grow oil palm independently. Solidaridad funds World Education Australia/Indonesia to CUKK train staff to up-skill palm oil farmers in financial literacy and setting-up of internal control systems. This is important because at present these farmers often have low yields and are not aware how these can be improved. During the trainings they learn for example where and how to buy good fertilizer, how to do yield forecasting, and what the benefits could be of setting up cooperation’s to commonly purchase fertilizer or seeds. By now a local full time project manager is hired and she is training 6 CUKK staff members to become oil palm trainers. In parallel trainings are taking place.