Thursday, March 28, 2024

Crop Certification: Going green unlocks global markets for farmers

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Over the last 30 years, more and more tea, coffee and cocoafarmers have embraced towards climate-smart and sustainable practices by adopting “certification standards” that help to maintain soil quality, increase productivity and reduce costs. The standards also assure buyers of agricultural commodities that the products in their supply chains are environmentally sustainable.

In July 2020, a milestone was reached when United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) partner, the Rainforest Alliance, published its new unified standard (certification programme) for production systems that conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. The standard applies to over 5 million hectares of tropical farmland, impacting the livelihoods of over 2 million farming families.

“Certifications like Rainforest Alliance have played an important role in driving sustainable supply chains at both the production and consumption end,” says Christopher Stewart, Global Head of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, Olam International. “We have partnered with the Rainforest Alliance for many years and highly valued their sustainability expertise and implementation skills to help us advance our farmer programmes. A stamp-like Rainforest Alliance can motivate consumers to buy sustainably produced products and support farmers.” Read more…

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