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Daily CSR
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Moringa Farmers In Haiti Receives Help From Kuli Kuli And Partners To Become Self-Sufficient



09/21/2015

Kuli Kuli, along with SFA and Clinton Foundation, is to help moringa farmers in Haiti to make them self sufficient, while introducing moringa to the palates of North America.


Dailycsr.com – 21 September 2015 – In order to develop a “new moringa supply chain” in Haiti, Kuli Kuli, which is a ‘super-food’ social enterprise, joined in a partnership with the “Clinton Foundation” along with the “Smallholder Farmers Alliance”, a non-profit organisation, situated in Haiti. Moreover, Chelsea Clinton went to meet women “moringa farmers” in Haiti in the beginning of this month.
 
From the most commonly cultivated species of moringa, named moringa oleifera, the Kuli Kuli enterprise “produces a nutrition bar. The said trees are native to the north-western foothills region of Himalaya, situated in India. The nutrition bars made of moringa are “gluten-free”, it is used raw along with “a few simple all-natural ingredients”, designed in a manner that they turn out to be “low in calories” yet contain “high levels of fiber, protein and vitamins”.
 
As per the claims of Kuli Kuli, it is the first U.S. retailer of moringa food products, they raw materials of which are sourced from the “women’s cooperatives in West Africa” which in turn helps those communities to attain “nutritional self-sufficiency”. The C.E.O of Kuli Kuli, Lisa Curtis informs:
“Moringa is one of the few plants that grows well with very little water and in poor soil. This makes it the perfect plant for Haiti, which has been in a drought for the past five years and has poor soil due to high rates of desertification and the after-effects of the hurricanes.”
 
Moringa contains “high levels” of antioxidants, calcium, proteins, vitamins and iron, whereby becoming a plant that is dense in nutrients. The tree not only benefits vegetarians but also proves useful for “rural farmers” cannot buy meat due to its cost factors. The trees offers “essential amino acids methionine and cystine”, the hardest of their kind that the body can extract from any vegetation.
 
Keeping all these important aspect of the tree in mind, the partnership of the trio will plant “thousands of moringa trees” in Haiti, which may bring forth a “sustainable income” to the local farmers. In the year of 2010, when “Clinton Global Initiative Conference” was going on, the foundation of Timberland step forward to plant five million trees in Haiti in collaboration with SFA. The time span for this project was designated as five years, which was to use “innovative community-based agroforestry model”. The model was based on the “exit strategy”, which sought to “find ways” to bring generate money from planting trees. In Curtis’ words:
“The SFA approached Kuli Kuli about selling Haitian grown moringa in the U.S. Together, SFA and Kuli Kuli approached the Clinton Foundation. They loved the idea and agreed to explore the possibility of developing moringa for export in Haiti, focused on providing women smallholder farmers with a sustainable income.”
 
The new partnership of the trio aims to “introduce Haitian moringa to the North American market”. The working of the project will involve also “local partners” so that the culture of local usage and cultivation of moringa continues while only a portion of the total harvest will be transported, whereby a “sustainable livelihood to women moringa farmers” can be created.
 
The work of introducing moringa to North America is on its way and the “renowned chef José Andrés” is busy mixing spice to the moringa mix of Kuli Kuli to customise the same for “the American palate”, while he is also advising on how the application of moringa, given its nutritional aspects, can be improved in Haiti. Moreover, Kuli Kuli in collaboration of World Central Kitchen is to hold a “moringa recipe competition on Instagram” which has been advertised under the hashtag of “#MoringaInspired”. It is an attempt to raise awareness on the values of moringa and to support the moringa farmer of Haiti.
 
In Curtis’ words:
“We've also grown our distribution enormously. Our Moringa Superfood Bars and Pure Moringa Powder is currently distributed in 15 states and will be in 33 states by October. We just opened up a new investment round to help finance all this new growth.”




References:
http://www.sustainablebrands.com