JTI uses BanQu to protect children and source responsibly

JAPAN TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL

Results

4

COUNTRIES INVOLVED.

25000

AT-RISK SMALL-HOLDER FARMER FAMILIES HELPED

65000
+

CHILDREN/STUDENTS

Company
JTI (Japan Tobacco International) is a global tobacco and vaping company focused on innovation and social responsibility.
Industry
Tobacco
Locations
Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Brazil
Employees
1,000+
Started using BanQu
2019

Big Picture

JTI (Japan Tobacco International) is a global tobacco and vaping company focused on innovation and social responsibility. In response to the rise of child labor on tobacco farms (more than 1.3 million in 2011), they founded ARISE. By 2019, JTI’s integration of BanQu’s non-crypto Blockchain technology allowed it to keep its tobacco supply chain and small-holder farms accountable, while bringing much needed transparency.

One of the main reasons for the high prevalence of child labor is the burden of debt. Often seeing no other option, families turn to using their children in the fields as unpaid labor. This practice is particularly rampant in tobacco-growing communities.

Problem

One of the main barriers to withdrawing or preventing child labor is identifying risks and remediating abuses in the tobacco supply chain, which would require:

  • A simple, reliable way to collect manual data
  • A transparent, exception-based way to track performance indicators
  • A meaningful alternative to the fields

Solution

Sowing a Better Ecuador through Traceability and Transparency

Eager to normalize corporate social responsibility and digitize the child-monitoring process, JTI integrated BanQu’s technology into its ARISE initiative.  The technology ensures that communication and collaboration among subcontractors in the tobacco community is simplified. It also ensures that transparency drives financial empowerment for laborers, while filling a major blackhole in sustainability metrics — and that (via ARISE) children are put in educational programs, not in the fields

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