Integrating socially accountable African producers into Dutch retail chains: quick guide

What we do

Within its Sustainable Trade Development and Sahara Agreement programmes, the RSP supports Royal Ahold's existing and potential Southern African suppliers of horticultural (fresh and processed) products to demonstrate compliance and obtain certification in terms of social, environmental and/or food safety standards.
To develop and cement its relationship with African suppliers, Royal Ahold, which owns the leading Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn, launched its Ahold Sustainable Trade Development (ASTD) programme in 2003. The objective of this programme is to use the knowledge and expertise of Ahold around the world to make a positive impact in Africa and is focused on enhancing the viability of African farmers to export tropical fruits and vegetables, with an emphasis on organic and Fair Trade agricultural products. The ASTD programme operates in 10 countries in Africa - Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Senegal in the West African region and Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe in Southern Africa.
More recently, Ahold has recommitted itself to sourcing from Africa when it launched its Sahara Agreement Programme in 2006. This Agreement is essentially a commitment to ensuring that all produce sourced from Africa for Albert Heijn stores is sourced in a sustainable way with respect to profit, people and planet. More simply, this new initiative involves ensuring that all Ahold African suppliers adhere to minimum social, environmental and food safety standards. In exchange, Ahold commits to reserving money to implement social projects at source (that is, at producer level) and champion the long-term involvement of small-scale suppliers in their supply chains. In addition, Ahold also publicises the Sahara Agreement and uses it as an in-store marketing tool to increase the demand for African-supplied products.
Given the diverse portfolio of Albert Heijn suppliers in Africa, one negative implication of the Sahara Agreement is that if certain existing suppliers are unable to demonstrate compliance with social, environmental and/or food safety standards, they will be excluded from Albert Heijn supply chains. This exclusion runs counter to the spirit of the Sahara Agreement and thus rather than exclude these suppliers, Ahold would prefer to work with them and ensure they become certified.
As a business principal, Ahold cannot financially assist its suppliers by paying for certification costs, and therefore requested assistance from the RSP's Innovation Fund to support its existing and potential Southern African suppliers to obtain certification, if needed.
In the first phase of the project, funding was used to conduct an audit of all Ahold's current and potential suppliers to ascertain:

• Current and potential product availability (product, variety, supply volume and supply period);
• Certification status with respect to social, environmental and food safety standards; and
• Current and potential inclusion of smallholders into existing supply volumes.

Why this intervention

Albert Heijn is a leading Dutch supermarket chain owned by the Royal Ahold group of companies. In the highly competitive Dutch grocery sector the Albert Heijn chain, which has been in operation since 1847, has the largest market share (29.8%), with annual sales of US$7-billion.
Fresh produce from Africa into Albert Heijn stores currently amounts to more than €100-million per year. Africa is an important sourcing base for Albert Heijn, based on seasonal differences and the range of quality products that are available. To avoid the exclusion of existing and potential small-scale and larger suppliers of Ahold's from Southern Africa because of a lack of certification - due to various constraints, including a lack of knowledge, infrastructure, technical expertise and funds - the RSP is assisting such suppliers to comply with social, environmental and food safety standards and so remove serious constraints to these suppliers accessing the European market in a viable and sustainable way.

Who we work with

Royal Ahold

Ahold is an international group of quality supermarkets based in the United States and Europe. We provide an easy, convenient and appealing shopping experience through continuous customer focus.