Tasty, healthy and satisfying: the banana is by far the most popular fresh tropical fruit in Germany - followed by the pineapple. Every German citizen eats some twelve kilos of the yellow vitamin and energy donor every year. More than one million tons of bananas are exported to Germany (source: Statista - as of 2019/2020). This also results in a responsibility for the retailers.
REWE has been supporting social projects in the most important banana-growing countries since 2007, for example improving drinking water accessibility and medical care as well as leisure and sports facilities. But there ecological aspects such as reforestation, more sustainable cultivation and securing or increasing biodiversity have been central as well. The funding that REWE has already provided totals almost 5 million euros.
Structural change process
From 31 January to 13 February, REWE and nahkauf customers can support this commitment by buying bananas and pineapples. For every kilo of bananas sold under the REWE Beste Wahl, REWE Bio and Chiquita brands and for every pineapple sold, REWE will pay 10 cents into REWE Group's Central America Fund.
The proposals for the projects in the banana and pineapple growing countries of Costa Rica and Panama come from local organizations. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) supports the organizations in implementing the project activities. The aim of the Central America Fund is not only to lay the foundations for livelihood security and sustainable development. Rather, it aims to initiate a process of structural change towards fair, social, ecological and future-proof banana and pineapple production - also with the broad participation of the respective workforce and their local employee representatives.
Complete traceability
Transparency is increasingly important to customers. This is why REWE is labelling the pineapples and bananas of its private labels "REWE Beste Wahl" and "REWE Bio" with a QR code. Through this code, customers can get individual information about the plantation in question and the social and ecological standards under which the tropical fruits are produced.
For more information:
http://www.rewe.de/tropenprojekt
http://www.proplanet-label.com
https://www.rewe-group.com/de/nachhaltigkeit/gruene-produkte/leitlinien