Within the global context of growing attention to themes such as nutrition and physical activity, we focus our research strategy and our production investments on the creation of high quality products, carefully developed in terms of their nutritional value and portioning.
We support the protection of human dignity, as well as the absolute and unconditional respect of human rights, the product safety, environmental sustainability and transparency towards all civil society stakeholders with whom we interact daily, wherever the Ferrero Group companies operate.
Driving sustainable changes in our hazelnut supply chain:
We take providing better employment practices within the hazelnut supply chain very seriously. Being a larger hazelnut user, Ferrero is committed to driving sustainable changes in the hazelnut production sector.
To achieve this, we empower farmers through our work by equipping them with the knowledge of good agricultural and social practices.
In Turkey, for example, we work very closely with stakeholders to foster sustainable relationships with all relevant players in the hazelnut value-chain, including growers, seasonal workers, aggregators, traders and village leads (muhtar). Together with the Turkish employment agency (İŞKUR), we train labour brokers about workers' rights, and farm labourers and seasonal labourers so that they know what their rights are.
Our dedicated in-house Ferrero Farming Values Program, as well as several partnerships with trusted third parties including the International Labour Organisation and UTZ, work to ensure that people in our supply chains work in safe conditions.
Throughout our supply chain, we promote the respect of human rights and do not tolerate child labour nor any form of slavery as stated in our Code of Business Conduct. We are determined to prevent and eliminate child labour all along our supply chains, with the conviction that every child should be protected, by all possible means, from any form of exploitation.
As part of our commitment to driving sustainable changes in the hazelnut supply chain, we are working to combat child labour through a multi-stakeholder approach that involves a combination of different measures, such as our Ferrero Farming Values Program (FFV). In fact, the complexity of the hazelnut supply chain means it cannot be transformed by one single actor, and cooperation is absolutely essential to tackling the issue of child labour.
For example, Ferrero supports and actively participates in an extended Public-Private Partnership with CAOBISCO (European Association of Chocolate, Biscuits & Confectionery Industries) and the ILO (International Labour Organisation) in Turkey, through a project that aims to contribute to the elimination of the worst forms of child labour in seasonal agriculture in hazelnut harvesting. Between 2013-2017, the project contributed to the policy development of a National Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour.
Beside the policies created, the Public-Private Partnership has reached many families through counselling in groups or individually and withdrew or prevented more than 4,200 children from working in the field, through the provision of educational services.
In 2018, further activities targeting local stakeholders, teachers and school administrators took place in target Turkish provinces:
- Identification and referral mechanism activities together with education, counselling and rehabilitation services took place during the hazelnut harvesting season, with the following outcomes:
- 1,022 children were withdrawn/prevented from work in hazelnut harvesting,
- 668 families who work in seasonal hazelnut harvesting were provided with counselling,
- 112 rural intermediaries were provided with counselling and training
- 196 hazelnut garden/plantation owners were provided with counselling and training sessions.
We remain as committed as ever to driving sustainable changes in the hazelnut production sector and continue to drive forwards on our partnerships.
