FAO COMMODITIES AND TRADE TECHNICAL PAPER 5 Voluntary Standards and Certification for Environmentally and Socially Responsible Agricultural Production and Trade prepared by: Pascal Liu Mikkel Andersen Catherine Pazderka
Commodities and Trade Division FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2004
	Table of Contents

Cover photographs: FAO MediaBase

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ISBN 92-5-105240-9
ISSN 1729-9829

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© FAO 2004

Contents

Acronyms and abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction

Chapter I - Benefits of certification: does certification benefit farmers and society as a whole?

1. What is the world market for certified products?

European Market
United States Market
Japanese Market
Discussion

2. Farmers’ experience with certification
3. Benefits and constraints of certification: evidence from case studies

Introduction
Review of case studies on organic farming
Review of case studies on fair-trade certification
Review of case studies on other voluntary standards
Conclusion

Chapter II - Overcoming the constraints of certification: facilitating certification through NGO initiatives

1. The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements
2. The Rainforest Alliance Certification
3. The Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, FLO
4. Social Accountability International (SAI)
5. Facilitating the certification of smallholders through internal control systems: insights from the SASA Project

ICS and smallholder access to certification
Internal inspector/extension officer dual roles
Documentation - burden and learning tool
Nuancing ICSs: endogenous versus out-grower scenarios
Heterogeneity in sampling populations
Sampling
ICSs and development
Challenges for the broader West African context raised on the Burkina Faso audit
ICS and social certification
Documentation burden related to social issues
Certification systems 'piggy-backing' on each others' foundations
Definition of relevant social issues
ICSs and processes of development
Internal control elements in SASA organizations
Towards a generic management system for small producer groups

Chapter III - Building alliances to expand market opportunities for responsible production

1. Collaboration between FAO and the certification organizations
2. The International Social and Environmental Accreditation Labelling Alliance (ISEAL)
3. Collaboration among standard-setting and certification organizations: the example of the SASA project

Context and Trends
Proposed Coordination - An Overview
Scope
Objectives
Implementation strategy

4. Certification: Adapting to the future

Discussion

5. Building alliances between responsible producers and retailers

Discussion

6. Building alliances between socially responsible producers and consumers
7. Strategies to improve collaboration between stakeholders in the supply chain and to promote responsible production and trade

Conclusion

Annexes

Agenda
List of participants
List of FAO publications and reports on environmental and social certification

FAO commodities and trade technical papers

Back cover

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