PODIE was established in 1985 in Negombo, on Sri Lanka’s western coast. Looking to raise the living standard of small-scale farmer communities within Sri Lanka, the organisation set out to buy directly from producers and to export their products directly to fair traders around the world.

Today, the group markets the product of nine spice-growing farmer groups spread throughout the southern and central regions of the country. The spices – primarily cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, ginger and chillies - are processed and packed by a team of 65 women at the organisation’s warehouse which is set in the heart of the country’s prime cinnamon-growing zone.

By eliminating several links in the traditional trading chain, PODIE is able to both pay farmers more for their spices (25% to 40% above market rates – income which is used to provide education, sanitation, housing and basic health care for families) and also to fund other services which together also help to raise the living standards of its members, including:

• Provision of agricultural training for farmers to improve quality control and the quality of their produce
• Provision of environmentally friendly inputs and promotion of organic processes
• Financial assistance for larger items of capital expenditure (eg construction of drying floors, development of irrigation systems)
• Establishment of electricity supplies to members’ homes
• A loan scheme which enables growers to access finance at affordable rates
• provision of educational resources for farm village pre-schools
  

About one of the farmer groups PODIE supports

PODIE works with 9 producer groups of which 3 are women groups who are mainly involved in producing packing materials. The other 6 producer groups are mainly farming groups of which the chilli cultivating group from the village of Wanniamunukula is one of them.

Wanniamunukula is a remote village located in Putlam District which is in the dry zone of Sri Lanka.  There are 48 farmer families in this group. They cultivate chilly, ginger and mustard which all have to be replanted at least once every year unlike the perennial herbs of cloves, nutmeg and cardamom which once planted can be harvested regularly for over 100 years.

This  farmers group in Wanniamunukula have to continually cultivate new chena, which is the mode of cultivation done after clearing a plot of land in the thick of the tropical forest. This plot of land is abandoned for a new one every three years and left to regenerate. The groups don’t have proper irrigation systems for their cultivation, and have always faced problems in getting enough water for their cultivation as they depend on seasonal rains. PODIE have helped the farmers to rehabilitate 2 village tanks (man made lakes) which had been neglected and abandoned for many years. With the restoration of these 2 tanks the farmers of this group can now use the water derived from the rainy season for their cultivation during the next dry season.

These farmer groups have also had to face the threat from the wild animals to their lives and to their property. During the night wild elephants and other animals have been known to destroy their crops.  To combat this the farmers erect watcher huts in the trees on their farms to keep an eye out for, and chase away, any approaching wild animals. To frighten these wild animals (especially the elephants) they light fire crackers or make loud noises!

A chilli farmer works in his field assisted by his family members. He has a watcher hut in the tree at the back of his field.

                   

and check out these interesting links:

• read a story about the man behind PODIE

• view our product display for June - spicy images for winter

• keep warm this winter and make yourself a chai latte using our fair trade spice

• read about the history of spice