SOURCING & WATERSHED The Frezna project is driving systemic change by improving farmers' margin and access to market, farming practices and social conditions of strawberry pickers. Frezna aims to develop a sustainable farm model to produce a sustainable strawberry.
Depending on farm size, access to good seeds and climate conditions, farmers producing strawberries in Morocco do not have a steady revenue throughout the year. At the same time, a majority of pickers working in strawberry fields are seasonal workers, meaning they live in precarity with poor access to medical checks and social benefits. Morocco meets one third of worldwide strawberry demand and is the leading strawberry provider for European countries. As such, it’s a key supplier for Danone, which wishes to source its strawberries in a more sustainable way.
With the support of Danone Ecosystem, Dan Trade (Danone Sourcing entity) and its local partners GIZ, Dirafrost and Messem co-created Frezna.
This project is focused on 3 main objectives:
Social: ensuring that 100% of pickers have social security benefits and access to medical visits.
Environmental: limiting strawberry farming’s impact on environment.
* Reduce farm-based CO2 emissions by 10%
* Reduce water consumption from irrigation by 20%
* Reduce the number of pesticide products used by 30%
* Ensure > 50% organic output
* Offer a sustainable plastic waste management solution to farmers
Economic: Supporting farmers in their P&L management to increase margins and strengthen their access to markets.
To achieve these goals, we are supporting 142 strawberry farmers in the Gharb-Loukouss region with an on-the-ground technical team of 7 experts providing day to day support and advice to farmers.
The Sustainable Moroccan Strawberry Project is creating systemic change in the Moroccan strawberry industry by positively altering the social and environmental impacts that affect a broad group of farmers, who represent ~30% of the total number of Moroccan strawberry farmers. Thanks to the project, farmers can secure their workforces in a region facing new industrial dynamics, as well as optimize their farming practices, allowing them to be less dependent on seasonality and achieve more steady revenues.
Under the photography, some of the project's ambitions.
in co-funding
of field workers with social security and medical check
of water usage reduction
