Workplace safety and environmental sustainability can be promoted by agreed standards, certification and labelling. Relevant standards for cash crops in developing countries are reviewed here, including organic agriculture, fair-trade labelling, SA8000, Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Programme, the Ethical Trading Initiative, ISO 14001 and EurepGap.
The origins of these initiatives, their scope and certification system are explored. In addition, stakeholder involvement, the standard-setting process, verification methods, the relation with WTO agreements and the potential role of governments are discussed. Twenty-two case studies on the impact of these standards and certification programmes on production costs and revenues for farmers in developing countries are presented, in addition to the latest data available on markets for labelled bananas, coffee, tea and citrus.
This publication will be useful to governments, private companies and non-guvernmental organizations facing complex decisions regarding environmental and social standards, certification and labelling.
