The Compliance Process of Food Quality Standards on Primary Producer Level: A Case Study of the EUREPGAP Standard in the Moroccan Tomato Sector

Fruit and vegetable sectors are principally seen as sectors where small producers are able to participate due to their low demand on land and their high labor requirements. However, the concern exists that small producers participation in the international fruit and vegetable trade could be diminishing as a result of the increasing prevalence of food quality standards in the sector. Standards define the terms of chain membership, imply rules and conditions for participation, and hence lead to processes of (re)distribution within the chain (Gibbon and Ponte, 2005). For some producers, standards may open up new opportunities as they permit market access to particular market segments. At the same time, the process of (re)distributing market shares is accompanied by marginalization and exclusion, as standards may impose prohibitively high barriers for certain producers in terms of the short-term and long-term efforts needed for production under certification. This is particularly relevant since certification with private standards has become a major requirement for participation in fruit and vegetable markets worldwide. One of the most important private standards for fruit and vegetables is the EUREPGAP standard, which has now become quasi-mandatory for several export destinations (USAID, 2005). This paper aims to analyze two particular questions with regard to the distributional effects of standards: 1) which producers comply, and which do not; and 2) why do some producers comply while others do not? With respect to the first question, various surveys have mentioned the particular difficulties facing small producers within this new trading environment (e.g. Humphrey et al. 2004; Kleinwechter and Grethe 2006; Maertens and Swinnen 2006; World Bank 2005). However, most of these surveys have hypothesized that small producers are disadvantaged within the new trading environment on theoretical grounds without actually providing empirical evidence for this assertion.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FOOD QUALITY ASSURANCE SCHEMES: THE CASE OF NEULAND AND EUREPGAP

Food Quality Assurance Schemes (QAS) are widely applied in the European Union. Neuland and EurepGAP represent two different approaches. Neuland differentiates meat clearly by a strict emphasis on rules regarding animal welfare to provide consumers with meat produced at a high animal welfare standard. EurepGAP certifies the compliance to international accepted standards with regard to Good Agricultural Practise to ease the exchange of products throughout the supply chain. In terms of overall benefits and costs, the study showed that for both QAS the benefits clearly outweigh the costs. This paper compares the schemes and their implications for the agro-food chain.Quality Assurance Schemes, Food policy, Food chain, Agribusiness, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Ethical principles and the revision of organic rules

Strong ethical principles are seen as a tool to evaluating the development of organic agriculture so that corrections can be made where they are considered necessary. This report explains how the EU project, Organic Revision, is expected to do just that

European System Related to Good Agricultural Practice (EUREPGAP)

EUREPGAP, standards, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade,

South African Farmers’ Perceptions of the Benefits and Costs of Complying with EUREPGAP to Export Fresh Citrus to the European Union (EU)

A representative stratified random sample of 100 South African farmers from across all production regions that export fresh citrus to the EU were surveyed during 2007-2008 to document their perceptions of the benefits and costs of complying with EUREPGAP standards on citrus exports. Principal Component Analysis identified six broad dimensions of internal benefits as improved operating/technical performance; regulations compliance and intra-business benefits; gains in competitiveness; regulations compliance and new market access; benefits from existing markets; and to overcome non-tariff barriers to entry. Two further dimensions of supply chain benefits identified by PCA were improved business working relationship and product quality benefits, and improved cooperation and contractual benefits. The sampled growers thus perceive operational, technical, safety, management, monetary, marketing and supply chain benefits from certification. The major costs of implementing EUREPGAP certification related to initial investment costs and the recurrent annual costs of compliance. The respondents, on average, spent R70510 on initial compliance costs, mainly for infrastructure, additional buildings and employees training. Some 60% of respondents spent less than 1% of annual farm turnover on initial compliance costs, while most of the respondents (84%) spent less than 1% of annual farm turnover on recurrent costs of compliance. Growers that owned a pack-house had statistically significantly higher initial and annual costs of compliance. The intra- and inter-firm benefits and costs of compliance identified by these results indicate factors that policymakers, and the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa, can focus on to improve the competitiveness of SA fresh citrus exports to the EU.South African fresh citrus exports, European Union, perceived benefits and costs, EUREPGAP compliance, Farm Management,

Traceability Adoption at the Farm Level: An Empirical Analysis of the Portuguese Pear Industry

Traceability is becoming a condition for doing business in European food markets. Retailers are adopting standards that are more stringent than what is mandatory. An example is EurepGAP, a quality standard for good agricultural practices that includes traceability as a main requirement. We analyze EurepGAP implementation in the Portuguese pear industry and find that implementation cannot be distinguished from sales to British supermarkets. Discrete choice models show the odds of traceability adoption increase with farm size and previous compliance with quality assurance schemes, while farm productivity has a negative impact on the probability of adoption.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Objectiveness in the Market for Third-Party Certification: Does market structure matter?

The globalization of trade in high quality foods is stimulating the development of international food standards and certification systems. Third-party certification as evolved as a means of ensuring that product information and signals on quality and safety attributes are sound and reliable. Certification can only provide credible market signals if it operates objectively and independently. This paper investigates the potential trade-off between certifiers objectivity and the level of competition in the rapidly expanding market for third-party certification of quality foods. Based on a theoretical supply chain framework a nested panel analysis is applied to a set of accredited certifiers for the EurepGAP fruits and vegetables standard. Our results indicate that increasing economies of scale and market share in certification do matter.Third-party certification, objectiveness, market structure, nested panel analysis, EurepGAP, Marketing,

What Impact Are EU Supermarket Standards Having on Developing Countries Export of High-Value Horticultural Products? Evidence from Kenya

European Union (EU) retailers are setting global benchmarks for the production of fresh food, and are asking their suppliers for produce to be certified according to food safety and quality standards. Compliance to these standards for developing countries small-scale producers entail costly investment in variable inputs and long term structures. Limited empirical evidence exists either to refute or confirm the concern that the proliferation and enhanced stringency of these standards marginalize smallholders from global market. This article therefore explores the costs of compliance, factors explaining the smallholder decision to adopt EU private quality standard and the impacts of the standard on farm financial performance. We develop a two-stage standard treatment effect model to account for self-selection as a source of endogeneity. Analysis is based on a random cross section sample of 439 small-scale export vegetable producers in Kenya whose production was monitored in 2005/2006. We demonstrate that adopters and non-adopters are distinguishable by their asset holding and household wealth, access to services, labor endowment and level of education. Once we control for endogeneity problem, we found that small-scale producers can benefit substantially from adopting the standard at the farm level.Kenya, export vegetables, adoption, EurepGAP standard, impact assessment, International Relations/Trade,

The adoption of the Eurepgap Standard by Mango Exporters in Piura, Peru

The significance of standards in international agricultural trade is continuously rising. Due to their complexity, especially private industry standards are often expected to have a negative impact on agricultural export sectors in developing countries. The successful adoption of standards by a broad number of producers can be seen as a condition to limit negative socioeconomic consequences. This case study for the mango export sector in Piura, Peru, analyzes the adoption of the Eurepgap standard, based on a theoretical framework of a compliance process of three stages (information stage, decision stage, implementation stage). The empirical part is based on interviews with farmers. A comparison between certified producers and a control group identifies the mechanisms that lead to an adoption of the standard. A first major barrier to adoption is the access to information on the standard. Exporting enterprises are the most important source of information. Analysis at the decision stage shows that vertical integration is the most important factor in the adoption of the standard. A contemplation of the implementation stage shows that the costs of compliance are at 9.51 US$/ton on average or 3.8% of the product price. Factors that influence the costs of compliance are the starting point, the target level and the involvement of exporter enterprises. Consequently, the activities of exporter enterprises can be identified as the key factor for the adoption of the standard in the sector. Furthermore, the standard involves the risk of exclusion of certain producer groups.standards, costs of compliance, Eurepgap, developing countries, international, trade, mango, Peru, International Relations/Trade, F13, Q13, Q17, Q18,

Private Standards, Handling and Hygiene in Fruit Export Supply Chains: A Preliminary Evaluation of the Economic Impact of Parallel Standards

With the emergence of private food safety and quality standards in developed countries fruit exporting countries in the developing world face increasing constraints to access markets in the rich industrialised countries in the North. Producers in the South have no alternative as to make the necessary investments on farms and in pack houses to comply with the requirements of these food quality and safety standards. The export of fresh fruit is an important component of South African agricultural exports, with citrus fruit exported to markets such as Europe being of particular importance. This paper reports selected results from a large research project into the impact of private standard compliance on the quality of the fruit and the returns to farmers. The research process involved a multi-disciplinary analysis of Agricultural Economics and Microbiology / Plant pathology as we analysed the dynamics of the citrus export supply chain from the farms in South Africa to the end consumer in Europe. Sampled fruit containers were followed through the whole supply chain which allowed us to provide an exposé of the behaviour of the different actors in the citrus supply chain and obtain some evidence of poor handling and hygiene standards by means of a comparison of the experimental observations with various relevant components of the EurepGAP control points and compliance criteria for fruit and vegetables. Observations suggest that these standards are adequately applied to the production and handling of fruit at the farm and pack house levels while on the other hand the subsequent stages (mainly after the importing harbour in Europe) of the fruit supply chain are seemingly not subjected to the same strict requirements laid out for producers, leading to fruit quality deterioration and financial losses for producers. This constitutes clear parallel standards in terms of fruit safety and quality standards between upstream and downstream sections of the supply chain and questions thus the purpose of the standards and the financial return for producers making large investments to comply with these privately introduced standards.International Relations/Trade,