Certified sustainability: Only a burden to
farmers or a tool to improve sustainability?
(Some GIZ experience)
Dr. Eberhard Krain & Pelelefanga J.-M. Coulibaly
International Certification Conference (ICC)
Yamoussoukro, Côte d‘Ivoire
15th-20th September 2014
13.04.2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 1
Overview
• GIZ at a glance
• The sustainability bottleneck
• Role of GIZ in supporting sustainability and certification
• Experience with certified sustainability
 Experiences worldwide
 GIZ experience with focus on Africa
 Alternatives to certified sustainability
• Conclusions
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 2
GIZ at a glance
•
GIZ is a not-for-profit enterprise, owned by German Federal Republic
•
Mandate: Sustainable development through international cooperation
•
Thematic areas: economic development, governance, environment,
energy, health, education, agriculture and food, etc.
•
Present in about 130 countries, mainly developing countries and emerging
economies
•
2012: business volume of € bn 2.1 , mostly development projects,
advisory services, dialog platforms and training courses
•
Major clients: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ), other German ministries, European Commission,
foundations and private sector
•
Staff members: > 16,000 globally, about 3,100 in Germany
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 3
The sustainability bottleneck
Profit - increasing
Market demands
People - lacking capacity
and incentives
Planet - limited
natural resources
xda-developers
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 4
Components of a Voluntary Sustainability Standards
System (VSS)
A standard is like a law, it is just a piece of paper that
needs a corresponding system to make it work
1. Standard
Setting requirements
2. Capacity Building
3. Assurance
Know-how & skills
To fulfill requirements
Providing evidence of compliance
Certification is just 1 of 3
assurance options
The bottleneck lever!
4. Accreditation
„Controlling the controller“
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 5
Role of GIZ as international donor organization in
supporting sustainability and certification
Network
membership
Standard Systems
Development
Secretariat
function
•
•
•
•
•
•
African Cashew Initiative
Sustainable Cocoa Business
Competitive African Cotton Initiative
Cotton made in Africa
Better Rice Initiative Asia
…..
Dev. Projects & PPPs
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 6
Selected worldwide Experiences (ISEAL)
(ISEAL = International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Association)
1. Standard compliant production is increasing dramatically and market
penetration is significant in some sectors
2. There is a gap between production and sales for some commodities
3. Sustainable production is skewed towards more developed countries
4. Certified farms are different and excel on numerous social, environmental,
and economic characteristics
5. Certified operations do make improvements over time
6. Impact evaluation results are still rare. Recent studies suggest that observed
changes cannot always be attributed to standard systems
7. Farmer incomes increase, but not always and more improvement is needed
8. There are some important limits to what certification and standards can do
alone
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 7
Certified vs. uncertified producers outcomes
(% difference in results for important COSA indicators)
(COSA = Committee on Sustainability Assessment)
Certified
producers
perform
better on
average
Source: ISEAL presentation taken from the COSA Measuring Sustainability Report 2014
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 8
Experiences of GIZ-SNRD Africa projects
with certified sustainability
(SNRD = Sector Network Rural Development Africa)
Survey methodology
• Survey sent to 48 member projects
• 18 filled the questionnaire
 For about 40% of the SNRD projects certified
sustainability appears to be a matter of interest for
their work
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 9
SNRD Africa Experiences: Key Results
Opinions about sustainability standards
 2/3 positive attitude
 They are interested in further exchanges on the subject
 1/3 sceptical attitude
 Concerns: complexity, costs sceptical about benficial impact
Mostly used standards
o UTZ > Rainforest Alliance (in the cocoa production)
o Fairtrade, GlobalGAP, Organic (for fruits, vegetables,
cashew, cotton, coffee crops)
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 10
SNRD Africa Experiences: Lessons Learnt
Positive impact on productivity and quality
 Increasing farmer negotiation power for better margins, growing
reputation as export countries, positive environmental impact
Critical issues to pay attention to:
 inclusion of smallholder, less organized producers and less
competitive export countries
 That benefits should also go towards farmers (not only towards
buyers/processing industry etc.)
 Complexity/ cost for farmers
 Standards are one tool in value chain development; other
measures need to be undertaken simultaneously
Ex: organizational development of farmer groups, access to founds
and markets, road network
13.04.2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 11
GIZ Experience in Côte d’Ivoire
• PPP projects implemented by GIZ in the cocoa sector between
2010 and 2013 had a big focus on certification
• Project private partners: CEMOI, SACO, KRÜGER, TOUTON
• UTZ : 1 Coop., 735 Prod., 3 900 MT certified
• Rainforest Alliance : 35 Coop., 19 010 Prod., 40 935 MT
certified
• Projects objectives
• Support implementation of certification process in the coop.
(information, internal management system, audit, …)
• Training of extension staff
• Monitoring and evaluation
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 12
GIZ Experience in Côte d’Ivoire
• Success
• cooperative organization were strengthened
• increasing rate of adoption of GAP by producers and there
incomes
• Challenges
• capacity building of cooperative leaders should be increased
• sustainability beyond the projects
• Lessons learnt
• GIZ CIV is no more working on certification (only in marginal
cases) but develops a more comprehensive capacity building
for private partners and cooperatives
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 13
Zooming in on Assurance (Certification) 1
•
Assurance types

First party (assessment by producer)

Second party (assessment by buyer)

Third party (assessment/auditing by indpendent body = certification)
•
Certification, most credible but most expensive way
•
Alternatives
13.04.2015

First party: farmer self-assessment on sustainability (SAI Platform) (now
called farm sustainability assessment (FSA)

Peer review: MOAP, Ghana; IFOAM Pariticipatory Guarantee System

Smaller samples (e.g. ½

Longer auditing cycles for good performers (e.g. SAN/RA in Code under
revision)
4C vs.
SAN/RA, Utz, FairTrade)
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion de Filières Agricoles et de
Biodiversité (PROFIAB), Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 14
Zooming in on Assurance (Certification) 2
Is certification necessary for sustainability?
 NO, however, it increases credibility
What is really important?
 Acquisition of know-how & skills
 Application of improved practices
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 15
Conclusions
 (Certified) sustainability has reached significant proportions of markets in
developed economies
 Certified sustainability has developed from a niche into the mass market
 Certification costs are high, but much lower than the costs that are
necessary to build up farmers know-how and skills
 The impact of certified sustainability is mixed, however, in the majority of
cases the outcomes are positive and small farmers have benefitted, too
 Certification is not necessary for sustainability, but helps credibility
 The more certified sustainability becomes mainstream, the less will be the
opportunity for better prices (premium), nevertheless farmers are well
advised to go towards (certified) sustainability in order to ensure market
access
 Alternatives to certification (1st & 2nd party assurance) should be more
explored
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
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Contact
Dr. Eberhard Krain
eberhard.krain@giz.de
Tel. +49 6196 79-1467
Pelelefanga J.-M. Coulibaly
Pelelefanga.coulibaly@giz.de
Tel. +225 2243 4392
Thank you!
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
Page 17
References

Aimee Russillo (GIZ consultant): Overview Current State of Impact Measurements of
Sustainability Standards Systems, GIZ, Eschborn 2013

COSA: Measuring Sustainability - First global Report on COSA Findings in Agriculture,
Draft, 2013

FAO: Impact of international voluntary standards on smallholder market participation in
developing countries, Rome 2014

IFC: Building a roadmap to sustainability in agro-commodity production, 2013

KMPG: Improving Smallholder Livelihoods: Effectiveness of Certification in Coffee, Cocoa
and Cotton, 2013

Kristin Komives: Entry presentation to the Panel Discussion “Responding to Results”,
ISEAL Conference, London, May 2014

NRI: Assessing the Poverty Implication of Sustainability Standards – University of
Greenwich, 2013

State of Sustainability Initiatives Review 2014
4/13/2015
Sector Programme Social and Environmental Standards & Promotion of Agricultural Value Chains and
Biodiversity Programme (PROFIAB) - Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa
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