Understanding Agricultural Certification\/Labeling<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
What is Sustainable Agriculture?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 1988) defines Sustainable Agriculture as: \u00ab\u00a0Developing and conserving natural resources and directing technological change to meet the needs of present and future generations. In agriculture, this means conserving land, water, animal and plant genetic resources and using environmentally sound, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable means. According to the FAO, sustainable agriculture should correspond to the respect of the following five principles:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Principle 1: Improving the efficiency of resource use is a crucial condition for the sustainability of agriculture;
Principle 2: Sustainability requires direct action to conserve, protect and enhance natural resources;
Principle 3: Agriculture that fails to protect rural livelihoods and improve social equity and well-being is not sustainable agriculture;
Principle 4: Sustainable agriculture must build the resilience of people, communities and ecosystems, especially in the face of climate change and market volatility;
Principle 5: Good governance is essential to ensure the sustainability of both natural and human systems.
How do we define Agricultural Certification?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
According to the online dictionary Wikipedia, certification can be defined as a procedure intended to validate a company’s compliance with the specifications (certification standards) of a third-party organization by an independent body, which we will call a certification body. It is a conformity assessment process (or conformity check) that results in written assurance that a product, organization or person meets certain requirements.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
In the agriculture sector, there are different types of certification standards focusing on environmental, economic or social requirements. The three main certification standards most commonly used in the Ivorian agricultural sector are<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Rain Forest Alliance (RA) \/ UTZ Certification: merging the two certification standards since January 2018, focuses mainly on the environmental impact of cultivation methods, soil protection, community welfare and improved working conditions.
Fairtrade (Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International – FLO) focuses mainly on better market access and marketing conditions for small producers, improved working conditions, social welfare and the environment of communities.
Organic Certification (BIO): focuses primarily on organic farming practices, minimizing or excluding the use of any agrochemicals or non-renewable resources.
Labeling is a step in the certification process. It is the final or definitive step in verifying a company’s compliance with a certification standard. A certification label is awarded to the certified entity by the auditor. The label is a mark or symbol that indicates that a company has been verified to meet a certification standard. It is a communication tool within the value chain between seller and buyer (final consumer).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Sustainable Agriculture Issues vs. Agricultural Certification Issues in C\u00f4te d’Ivoire<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The stakes of sustainable agriculture in C\u00f4te d’Ivoire are much higher than those of agricultural certification, which for the moment only concerns the main cash crops: cocoa, coffee, cashew nuts, cotton and palm oil. Where sustainable agriculture concerns all agricultural crops and involves the active participation of public authorities, private companies and producers. It requires a change or modification of state principles and rules in the sector, behaviors and usual practices in order to guarantee the transmission of a legacy (of land) to the future generation that is socially, economically viable and environmentally friendly.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The issues at stake in the certification standards and so-called \u00ab\u00a0sustainability\u00a0\u00bb programs developed by NGOs and multinationals are multiple, and their main objective is to satisfy the demands of several categories of Western consumers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
We could not better conclude this article without recounting an anecdote told to us by the Director of a modest cooperative in Zagn\u00e9 (Ta\u00ef, West of C\u00f4te d’Ivoire) during one of our sensitization sessions on sustainable agriculture standards. Il nous a racont\u00e9 ceci:\u00a0\u00ab\u00a0A UN organization (WFP) was supposed to distribute food to the people of Ta\u00ef who had been badly affected by the crisis in that part of the country. Mais le convoi de vivres a \u00e9t\u00e9 bloqu\u00e9 au niveau de la localit\u00e9 de Zagn\u00e9 \u00e0 cause du piteux \u00e9tat de la route. Les responsables du convoi ont sollicit\u00e9 les habitants des deux villages environnants pour r\u00e9parer ce tron\u00e7on de la route contre la promesse d\u2019un sac de riz par ouvrier. Les villageois, nombreux, ont r\u00e9par\u00e9 la route et ont obtenu chacun le sac de riz promis. Le convoi a pu donc se rendre \u00e0 Ta\u00ef pour distribuer les vivres aux populations sinistr\u00e9es et est ensuite retourn\u00e9 sur Abidjan. Les habitants des deux villages ont consomm\u00e9 les sacs de riz avec beaucoup de plaisir jusqu\u2019au dernier grain. Mais en r\u00e9alit\u00e9, ils ont b\u00e9n\u00e9fici\u00e9 de bien plus que de sacs de riz. Ils ont b\u00e9n\u00e9fici\u00e9 d\u2019une route r\u00e9habilit\u00e9 qui est un v\u00e9ritable outil de d\u00e9veloppement pour leur r\u00e9gion. The certification premium represents the bag of rice given to the villagers (producers) for rehabilitating the road (agricultural orchards); and the rehabilitated road represents compliance with the requirements of the certification standards that lead to harmonious and sustainable agricultural development.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
What will remain of agricultural certification the lure of the certification premium will no longer exist (for various reasons: economic crisis, decline in purchasing power of Western consumers, environmental disasters, etc.)? The popularization of the requirements of the certification standards which correspond for the most part to the principles of sustainable agriculture as defined by the FAO, should continue to all producers and their organizations.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Source : AMD AGRO SERVICES<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Understanding Agricultural Certification\/Labeling What is Sustainable Agriculture? The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 1988) defines Sustainable Agriculture as: \u00ab\u00a0Developing and conserving natural resources and directing technological change to meet the needs of present and future generations. In agriculture, this means conserving land, water, animal and plant genetic resources and using environmentally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy-development"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasa-africa.org\/ens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasa-africa.org\/ens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasa-africa.org\/ens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasa-africa.org\/ens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasa-africa.org\/ens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rasa-africa.org\/ens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4693,"href":"https:\/\/rasa-africa.org\/ens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462\/revisions\/4693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasa-africa.org\/ens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasa-africa.org\/ens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasa-africa.org\/ens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasa-africa.org\/ens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}