Environmental and social standards, certification and labelling for cash crops

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, Social Accountability-8000, the Rainforest Alliance's Sustainable Agriculture Programme, the Ethical Trading Initiative, ISO-14001 and EurepGap. The origins of these initiatives, their scope and certification system are explored.

This publication discusses stakeholder involvement, the standard-setting process, verification methods, the relationship with the World Trade Organization agreements and the potential role of governments. 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 the markets for labelled bananas, coffee, tea and citrus.