Three-thousand and five-hundred rattan baskets are currently being inspected and made ready for shipping to European markets by the end of this month.
“This morning we tagged, along with the WWF Sustainable Rattan Project team who went to the Danlao Company, a chain of custody-certified rattan product manufacturers in Vientiane Province, to inspect the baskets that are being prepared for shipping,” the project staff said.
The products were inspected by the rattan project technical staff, according to a standardized inspection procedure, where elements such as weight, size, stability, material finishing and consistency are assessed based on random sampling.
The Danlao Company employs more than 30 workers working on rattan processing and finishing. Some of them have been working here for more than 10 years, including Mrs. Phet who said, “I enjoy doing this work, and that’s why I have been here for 11 years now – my income before taking this job was inconsistent, very little, and did not allow me to feed my children to or send them to school”.
The Sustainable Rattan Project is an elegant, complex and unique undertaking.
It embodies sustainable livelihoods, income generation, biodiversity conservation, and natural resource management, all in a multi-stakeholder, multi-sectorial approach.
The project is currently funded by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency (SDC), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), as well as the multinational retailer IKEA.
The inspection report will be submitted shortly, so stay tuned for more on this story.
Source: KPL
