Eden Project

The Eden Project together with PhytoTrade Africa have launched ‘Project Baobab’ aiming to develop an innovative and desirable range of food products all with baobab as a key ingredient.

Baobab is harvested from the wild by registered rural harvesters, many living on less than $1 a day. Baobab trade is especially beneficial for very poor people. The fruits are harvested by hand from baobab trees occurring naturally in the wild. There is no start-up capital required to begin harvesting and trading baobab and this makes it a highly accessible income opportunity for even the poorest. By stimulating demand for more baobab products, particularly ethically and fairly traded, there is considerable potential to provide a sustainable livelihood for harvesters and help lift them out of poverty.  This project will create a flagship brand of baobab products in the UK and aims to raise consumer awareness and demand for the products by engaging the buying public in the story of baobab and the rural harvesters whose livelihoods depend on it.

The baobab will be imported through sustainable supply chains and the products developed by Eden Project suppliers, all with demanding environmental standards. The development of this range will provide an additional income stream for the farmers and producers in Africa. The project will work with rural harvesters to achieve Fairtrade certification, improve export quality standards, increase the efficiency of supply and expand supply chains, thereby creating a lasting legacy beyond the life of the funded period.

On a wider scale, the transformation of the lives of the baobab producers is expected to serve as a catalyst for much larger investments into developing the baobab industry across Africa. Project Baobab will also lay the foundations for a replicable model that can be applied to other indigenous African plants such as Marula and Ximenia.