Going Beyond Organic

BANGKOK/NEW YORK, August 22, 2016 /3BL Media/ - The BCtA is a global initiative that aims to support private sector efforts to fight poverty through its core business. It is supported by several international organizations and hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Northern Thailand’s hill tribe communities are poor and marginalized: lacking the same legal status as other people in Thailand, they cannot receive benefits such as social security and health care, and do not have the right to vote. Poverty and isolation leads some in these communities into drug and human trafficking, and forces many to abandon their mountain homes and migrate to cities. But the hill tribes also have assets: pure soil and water, clean air and a rich ecosystem.

Despite their abundant natural resources, the survival of hill tribe communities is in jeopardy without fair access to markets for their agricultural produce. Hilltribe Organics is responding to this need with an inclusive business model based on organic egg farming. Capitalizing on these communities’ environmental assets, the company has incorporated indigenous egg producers into its organic value chain, tripling their incomes to more than USD 500 per month.

Hilltribe’s signature product is the ‘beyond organic’ egg – the company was the first in Thailand to achieve organic certification for its chicken farms. Since Thailand’s hill tribe region has some of the purest arable soil in the world, the chickens are allowed to roam freely on fertile ground, have an all-natural diet and are completely hormone free. As a result, Hilltribe’s eggs exceed the highest standards free-range as well as organic production.

Urmatt Ltd., the parent umbrella company of Hilltribe Organics, has been involved in socially impactful agriculture in Northern Thailand for over 30 years. Its work with small farmers includes purchasing buffalo manure and field snails that farmers collect from rice paddies for processing into organic fertilizer; the fertilizer is given to farmers free of charge to increase their yields and ensure organic compliance. Leveraging its parent company’s experience in inclusive organic farming, Hilltribe connects with farmers through respected elders and community groups, and helps them for form farmer groups based on traditional social structures.

“Our main goal is to significantly improve the quality of life of hill tribe peoples”, said Arvind Narula, the CEO of Urmatt Ltd. “Hilltribe’s field team visits remote farms on dirt bikes each month to provide training ensure farmers’ compliance with our high standards. But even more importantly, having a reliable market for their high-quality eggs gives the hill tribe people a reliable safety net and allows them to remain on their land.”

Farmers who contract with Hilltribe are given egg-rearing chickens, helped to build bamboo chicken coops and prepare land for free-range chickens, and taught how to care for the chickens and grow organic feed – all at no charge. The company then pays farmers a fair price for each delivery of eggs, and helps farming families to access energy, sanitation, and education.

“Hilltribe Organics’ model provides a comprehensive example of an inclusive value chain”, said Paula Pelaez, Programme Manager BCtA. Raising incomes in indigenous communities through organic agriculture not only enables them to hold on to their land and traditions, but helps them to build strong livelihoods by producing high-quality, nutritious food for urban consumption.”

As a result of these efforts, Hilltribe has become the number one organic egg brand in Thailand and is now sold in major supermarkets as well as high-end restaurants and hotels. Given its rapid success, the company is looking to expand into value-added products like egg noodles, egg tofu, organic mayonnaise, egg custard and chicken stock. Scaling up its inclusive business will allow the company to include other indigenous communities throughout Thailand in its inclusive value chain, and create additional off-farm employment in food production.

For further information:

Business Call to Action:

Tatiana Bessarabova at tatiana.bessarabova@undp.org

Hilltribe Organics: Zach Gomes, Chief Operations Officer at zach@hilltribeorganics.com

Membership in the Business Call to Action does not constitute a partnership with its funding and programme partners, UNDP or any UN agency.

About the Business Call to Action (BCtA)
Launched at the United Nations in 2008, the Business Call to Action (BCtA) aims to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by challenging companies to develop inclusive business models that offer the potential for both commercial success and development impact. BCtA is a unique multilateral alliance between key donor governments including the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UK Department for International Development, US Agency for International Development, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Finland, and the United Nations Development Programme — which hosts the secretariat. For more information, please visit www.businesscalltoaction.org or on Twitter at @BCtAInitiative.

About Hilltribe Organics
A subsidiary of major organic food producer Utmatt Ltd, Hilltribe is a Thailand-based social enterprise committed to lifting hill tribe communities out of poverty by bringing their ‘beyond organic’ eggs to urban markets. These eggs are not only full of essential nutrients, but are produced in environmentally and socially conscious manner, providing decent incomes and secure livelihoods to indigenous farmers in northern Thailand. Hilltribe’s organic philosophy is to leave no harmful trace behind and to work in harmony with the environment in order to provide nutrition the way nature intended. Read more about Hilltribe and its ‘beyond organic’ eggs at http://hilltribeorganics.com/about-hto. And find out more about its parent company Urmatt Ltd at http://www.urmatt.com.