Introducing Fairfood: Joining Forces to Humanize Commodity Value Chains
18 June 2025, The Hague – Ambassador Sheikh Mohammed Belal warmly welcomed Mr. Sander de Jong, Executive Director, and Mr. Derek Hardwick, Digital Solutions Manager, representing Fairfood, an innovative non-profit organization dedicated to transforming global food systems.
The meeting enabled a constructive exchange of views and experiences about ongoing CFC-supported projects, available financing mechanisms, and potential areas for fruitful cooperation. Fairfood works to accelerate a shift toward sustainable food systems by providing an array of effective tools and digital solutions to help businesses adopt fair and sustainable practices, significantly improving the livelihoods of commodity producers and workers along the value chain.
Ambassador Belal introduced the groundbreaking concept of “Humanizing Value Chains,” highlighting CFC’s initiative aimed at benefiting smallholders and other low-wage commodity workers through practical, technology-driven solutions—such as digital tipping—enabling direct payments and support to these workers. He emphasized leveraging blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and other technological breakthroughs for enhanced transparency, equity, and especially social impact. Ambassador Belal stressed that, by purposefully steering such innovations toward greater societal well-being, stakeholders can achieve more equitable and sustainable outcomes for commodity producers globally.
Both CFC and Fairfood underscored the transformative possibilities offered by these digitally empowered initiatives and expressed their mutual interest in exploring deeper collaboration to drive meaningful change together.
The meeting concluded with a strong commitment from all participants to continue dialogue, identify actionable pathways, and effectively amplify their shared vision for more humanized, inclusive, and sustainable global commodity value chains.
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