How Massy Stores’ CSR Food Initiative is helping local farmers
This year, Massy Stores launched its first ever ‘Run for Food’ which is inspired by the world-wide “Hunger Run’, an initiative of international agency, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The FAO event, formerly also known as the Run for Food race, has been renamed to emphasize the Rome-based agency’s common goal of eradicating hunger. The Hunger Run has three objectives, which are:
- to increase awareness of the fact that hundreds of millions of people around the world live in hunger;
- to raise funds to help hunger-affected communities in developing countries to more food-secure lives; and
- to build links between the people of Rome and the United Nations food agencies headquartered here.
The Hunger Run usually consists of a 10 km competitive race as well as a 5 km fun run (or walk) through the historic centre of Rome, starting on Viale delle Terme di Caracalla and ending at the Stadium, Terme di Caracalla, in front of FAO headquarters. Proceeds from the FAO Hunger Run registration fees are used to help poor women in rural communities in the Horn of Africa affected by drought and poor harvests.
The TTCSR interviewed Massy Stores CEO Derek Winford to find out some more about their own food run.
So just how did Massy Stores get involved in the ‘Run for Food’?
We preferred the more positive name ‘Run for Food’ to the newly formatted ‘Hunger Run’, but the objectives remain the same. We wanted to sensitise the public to the importance of food security, through supporting locally grown food (farmers) with the aim of reducing dependence on imported food, reducing our food import bill and reducing the demand for foreign exchange.”
Can you say what inspired your food run?
A lot of things came together to make it happen. It was actually born out of a management retreat where we took some time on the agenda to look at how we were delivering service and meeting customers’ needs.
It was our Anthony Choo Quan who threw out the idea of giving back at a time when we had done well despite the economic challenges facing the country. We also thought it would be good to respond to the Prime Minister’s call to increase the consumption of local foods.
This year the company celebrates 75 years of service in the supermarket industry and although each store has its own unique community outreach programme, we felt it would be more impactful to do something collectively. There was resounding support from the management team to do this, even though the project cost us about half a million to implement.
Massy Stores partnered with the World Food Day National Committee of T&T to champion food sustainability within Trinidad and Tobago, by launching the run on April 4th this year.
Who benefits from the funds raised?
The Massy Stores at each location all have their own approved charities. We raised $104,000 to support those charities of choice. We distributed funds equally among those named charities. The distribution was done as food vouchers. It really feels good to have everyone at Massy and the public share in the distribution of food to worthy causes. We have had a lot of favourable feedback on this venture. There is a niche of ‘conscience buyers’ who tend to shop where they can see that their grocery shopping dollars can make a difference in the lives of others.
The Massy ‘Run for Food’ does just that.
So how exactly does the ‘Run for Food’ project benefit farmers?
The run is intended to highlight and encourage the sales of local produce and to promote a resurgence of home and kitchen gardens.
We recently did an analysis on our sales and produce. We have over $108 million in annual sales of produce that we sell and about 60-70% is imported. That means that we are doing about $50 million of sales in local produce. Clearly there is a huge opportunity for farmers – at least $100,000 worth of opportunity!
Following the launch of the run, Minister Rambaran contacted us to find out how we interact with and support farmers. I described our central depot and distribution centre to him. This is at the Fernandes Compound where we collect, wash and package fresh produce. It’s where we also quality check and advise farmers on use of pesticides and insecticides and issues such as the use of clean water and the refractory period in the use of chemicals to ensure safe practices.
While imported food must satisfy the safety controls of the originating country, here at home, much is left up to the discretion of the local farmers. Higher levels of inspection and compliance are necessary. Middle men don’t quality check but we do. I believe there is opportunity for international agencies operating in Trinidad and Tobago to do their part in educating and helping to regulate the use of chemicals within acceptable safe standards.
We’ve recently started a newsletter with that objective in mind and which is now distributed to farmers at the central depot.
How engaged are your employees in this initiative?
It is an employee volunteer initiative. Our Marketing Manager, Anthony Choo Quan is good at mobilising and motivating people. That same passion has corralled many events including carnival parties. He did all of the internal coordination and our advertising agency managed the PR. Over 2000 people actually ran at the event and that included our own Massy Stores’ employees. At the end of the race, we held a grand farmers’ market where there was an abundance of local produce available for direct purchase from farmers.
The crowd at the run was so big that we had to use 6 instead of the planned 3 lanes when we started off. It was a 5K route which started at Victoria Avenue and continued along St. Clair Avenue and then around the Queen’s Park Savannah.
Our Group CEO sits on the United Way Day of Caring, so as part of our employee volunteer programme, we did a lot of interventions with schools through United Way, to install or improve kitchen gardens. We have provided seeds, soil and tools for a number of schools – even a tiller for the School for the Deaf from Massy Agriculture Department. Some of the vendors at the post-run farmers’ market were kids from the schools.
Ahead of the food run, the company did a passing of “The Penny Peace Plant” which went from school to school among selected Primary Schools and was finally planted in the Queen Park Savannah on the day of the run. This played a significant role in getting children to embrace the concept of food security and sustainability.
How does Massy Stores source its food items and how is that impacting the local economy?
Once you produce the food, we can give you financial returns. It’s a vertical integration process – if they could produce we could sell. In other words, if you grow it, we will buy it; but how you grow it is also important to us. ‘Run for Food’ has actually opened a way for us to help the communities produce and to reinforce the watchwords of “discipline, tolerance and production.”
I believe that If business could reach out and encourage production, it comes right back. It stirs the economy and generates multiple returns.
Contrary to perception, supermarkets are actually ‘price takers’, we cushion the impact of prices to the consumer. We have low mark-ups and rely on volume. Massy is a public company so world economic conditions will determine prices. The value of the US dollar for instance, has a significant impact on operating expenses for us and on returns to our shareholders. This means having to manage the end price to consumers and to absorb some of the shock ourselves.
Benefits to local farmers are also being seen in other Caribbean territories where we operate. In Guyana and St. Lucia we do direct buying from farmers. This builds trust with the local community and fosters important relationships that help with steady supplies and food security. The sharing of ideas between Massy Stores and the farmers is essential to getting the quality of goods and the trading relationship right. These locations also have their own depots for collection, inspection and distribution and we are starting to implement some of the lessons we have learnt here at home to encourage responsible farming there.