Presented by: Amos Thiongó

1. About Myself 2. Origins of Agricultural certification 3. Examples of Leading Certification bodies 4. Benefits of various certifications 5. Challenges of Certifications

Amos Thiongó is Kenyan with over 6 years experience working on agricultural commodity trade.

For over 3 years, served as regional manager for Fairtrade in Eastern Africa

Currently working as Country Coordinator for Agri-ProFocus Kenya - a Network of over 100 institutions in Agribusiness in Kenya and over 1300 proffessionals

In 1859, a Dutch Author came up with a fictional character Max Havelaar. In the tales, Max Havelaar a Nederlandse Trade Company employee, who leaves everything to work in solidarity with local Indonesian workers.

These tales criticized the injustice that existed between poor commodity producers and consumers.

The fictional tales gave rise to the idea of fair trading

Formal certification – Mostly Organic started as early as 1920s in UK. In 1946, Lady Eve balfour founded the Soil Association – the main focus was soil conservation.

By 1960s, Focus had widened to include animal welfare, herbicide/pesticides use, and biodiversity conservation. Inspections were introduced for conformity

In the USA, several religious bodies came together to develop fair trade shops between 1946 and 1949

By early 1980s, Alternative trade organizations were faced with declining sales largely attributed by lack of innovative traceability systems

Organic standards and certification was developed in 1990s in the USA due to pressure from consumer groups

In some countries, government regulates organic standards – USA, Canada, Belgium, Australia etc

Fairtrade standards and certification was developed in the 1990s

So what is Certification?Practical definition depends on each

certifying body

A certifying body comes up with standards/codes of practise that value chain players must comply with. An audit/inspection is done to verify compliance. A compliance certificate or mark is issued to enable trading as certified products. Consumers can identify the mark as evidence of certification.

Fairtrade is the leading social standards certification institution. Its affiliate body FLO-Cert does farm inspection and certification Various organic certification bodies exist and are regulated differently. IFOAM is the umbrella body of organic certifiers

Rainforest alliance is a leading environmental and Sustainable production certifier. The key market for RA

certified products is the USA

World Fair Trade Organization mostly deals with handicrafts but also certifies agricultural commodities like cotton,

coffee UTZ certified was formerly know as UTZ Kapeh. It was relaunched in 2002 for coffee, tea, Cocoa and is now growing to other products

Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP) was Developed for Floriculture industry

Global GAP – Global Partnership for Good Agricultural Practise is a world wide standard that assures safe and sustainable Production. It is now mandatory certification for many export markets for horticultural products.

Hazard analysis and critical control points or HACCP . is a systematic preventive approach to food safety

and biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be

unsafe.

4C Association has developed a Code of Practice for stakeholders in coffee value chain. The Code has 10 Unacceptable Practises

Various certifications have particular focus areas. The following are some of the cross cutting benefits;

1. For FarmersI. Premium Prices – Produce carrying certification labels often attract

premium prices at the retail end. Consumers have more confidence in ethically produced commodities thus pay a premium price. For example, there is an price differential for organic products over conventional products in most markets.

II. Long term relationship with buyers – certifications encourage long term trading relationship between producers and consumers

III. Sustainable production practises – certifications promote environmentally friendly certification practises. This means that the farm as an enterprise will continue to produce for future generations

IV. Good Agricultural practises – ensures that the farmer is safe e.g. use of protective gear while spraying chemicals

V. Food safety – proper use of pesticides to ensure food is safe for human consumption. The farmer is also a consumer of the produce

2. For Workers in EstatesI. Safe working conditions for workers in

estates – most certifications audit safety in workplaces to ensure workers welfare, safety, non-harassment, gender equity

II. Wages and benefits of workers in estates – Certification discourages unfair labor practises. Employers must comply with ILO regulations as well as national labor laws within countries of operations

III. No use of child laborIV. Environmental protection – estates are

audited against environmental degradation, water foot print, carbon footprint etc

V. Gender interest