Koppert Foundation: more knowledge for smallholder farmers

Published 2/2/2023
During the last board meeting on December 20, the Koppert Foundation board, together with General Director René Koppert, signed the new governance structure. This means that a new phase has begun for the Foundation.

Under the leadership of Johannette Klapwijk, the Foundation will be more actively involved in transferring knowledge to smallholder farmers about sustainable cultivation. Together with working group members Ed Moerman, Edwin Muijt, Markus Knapp, Dominique Struijk and Manuelle Bos-Koppert, she will implement this new policy as General Manager two days a week. We would like to thank Fred Meijer, Peter Jens and Joke Koppert as members of the project board, Francien van Epen as Secretary, and Ed Moerman as Executive Manager, for their years of dedication. Under their leadership, the Koppert Foundation has matured into what it is today.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Foundation 5 years
The Foundation was established in 2017 on the occasion of Koppert's 50th anniversary. In recent years, the Foundation has supported projects in three areas with the aim of:

  • raising the standard of living of smallholder farmers;
  • transferring knowledge about sustainable cultivation to the general public;
  • and supporting employees who volunteer for a social organization.

Development projects have been supported in Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana and Ecuador, among others. We compiled teaching packages and taught primary school students, and developed training material for CABI plant doctors. We also sponsored a number of colleagues during sports activities for various charities. In 2022, we set up an action in collaboration with our subsidiaries to help Ukrainian refugees, also supporting colleagues from Poland and Slovakia who gave shelter to refugees from Ukraine.

020223 knowledge for smallholder farmers peterjens johannetteklapwijk

Focus transfer knowledge to smallholder farmers
The Koppert Foundation contributes to projects that make sustainable agricultural inputs available and accessible in areas where this is not (yet) self-evident. Up to now, we have mainly made financial contributions to development projects in which we have limited our involvement to the content of the projects. We will change that in the coming years. The focus will be on transferring knowledge to smallholder farmers. Together with our subsidiaries and external partners, we want to actively participate in projects in which we use our knowledge of sustainable cultivation to give farmers and their families access to healthy food and a higher income.

Since last year, we have been participating in a Heifer project in Guatemala with the aim of improving the cultivation of cardamom and other spices and giving farmers a fair price. We are also in talks with East West Seed – Knowledge Transfer, to set up a pilot for the sustainable cultivation of vegetables in Ghana.

Just like Koppert, the Foundation wants to contribute to the better health of people and the planet. Where necessary, it will offer its knowledge and support to make agriculture healthier, safer and more productive in collaboration with nature and the local population.

 020223 knowledge for smallholder farmers renekoppert paulkoppert

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