Roses from Afghanistan
In order to combat the opium trade in the long term, 80% of the world's heroin supply comes from Afghanistan, it is essential to offer the people an alternative means of securing a livelihood. In October 2004, on the initiative of German Agro Action, a project for producing rose oil was started. Today 700 farmers are growing Damask roses on more than 100 hectares of land. With the production of rose oil an ancient Afghan tradition was brought back to life. Today, a large volume of rose oil is produced, most of which is sold to WALA/Dr. Hauschka, who has supported the project since it first began.
WALA first expressed an interest in the Afghan rose oil in the summer of 2006 and has since been supporting the project with expertise and know how. The cooperation provides the manufacturer of natural skin care products with an additional source of the costly commodity in view of the steadily growing demand for oils from ecologically cultivated plants. The collaboration between WALA and German Agro Action was made possible by the fact that the farmers were willing to undergo certification to comply with the requirements of natural skin care.
Creating a better world • Sustainable partnerships all around the world
In creating the formulations for Dr. Hauschka skin care and make-up products, we draw on the many things that nature has to offer. For example, medicinal plants, botanical oils and waxes and genuine essential oils, naturally of organic or biodynamic quality wherever possible. Many of the medicinal plants used grow in our own biodynamic medicinal herb garden or in the fields on our Demeter farm over the road from Head Office, the Sonnenhof. We also purchase other raw materials from regional sources. Our climate is simply not suitable for growing some of the plant species from which we obtain raw materials.
Fragrant roses for essential rose oil, almond trees and jojoba bushes, for example. We want to purchase these in organic quality for our formulations as well. To do this, we sometimes have to instigate the production of organic raw materials in the first place. Essential rose oil, mango butter, castor oil and shea butter are just a few of the raw materials to which this applies. We support farmers financially and with our knowledge of organic farming. We help them obtain organic certifications and guarantee certain purchase volumes.
It goes without saying that we are committed to fair trade conditions and social responsibility, characterised by mutual trust and independent development opportunities. We therefore have a solid and long-term working relationship with many organic farming partners, including ones who grow almonds and olives in Spain, jojoba in Argentina and macadamia nuts in Kenya. We help our partners increase their production capacities and, where desired, finance regular visits to them by biodynamic consultants.
The aim of such involvement is always to enable the partners to develop commercially and achieve economic stability that makes them independent from us.
We also believe that such partnerships should involve good local working conditions. We have encouraged developments such as the creation of social areas for the workers of an oil mill and supported the construction of suitable sanitary facilities, for example. After all, it is not only financial independence that is important to us, but also better social conditions for people locally.
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