Organic and fair
The traditional and delicious banana variety "Gros Michel" grows under optimum conditions in the jungles of Costa Rica. It is very rich in flavour, has the perfect sugar content for baby food and is never found in huge plantations. The indigenous population cultivates this banana variety using traditional methods, thereby protecting the highland jungle’s unique biodiversity.
HiPP has long-term contracts with the local producers. Some 1,000 smallholders can rely on guaranteed sales and fair prices. A HiPP employee works on site to ensure the outstanding quality of the products that HiPP needs for its premium baby food. In the course of two decades, a relationship of deep mutual trust has developed between this person and the smallholder families. The German baby food producer has taken on great social responsibility for these people by this means and they are now able to earn a living, something that was often all but impossible in the past.
It is, above all, the women who are the driving force behind the banana project, from which more than 10,000 people in the region profit directly or indirectly. Besides the social benefits, this also brings ecological advantages: by contrast, with plantation farming, the banana plants here grow individually and well spaced from each other. If one plant is diseased or infected with fungi, it can be removed to prevent spreading. Unlike conventional farming methods, no pesticides or control chemicals are used. Thus the natural habitat of people, plants and animals is preserved and biodiversity protected.