Sustainability Standards & Certifications

The Fairtrade minimum price defines the lowest possible price that a buyer of Fairtrade products must pay the producer. The minimum price is set based on a consultative process with Fairtrade farmers, workers and traders and guarantees that producer groups receive a price which covers what it costs them to grow their crop. When the market price is higher than the Fairtrade minimum price, the trader must pay the market price.

Over and above the Fairtrade price, the Fairtrade Premium is an additional sum of money which goes into a communal fund for workers and farmers to use – as they see fit – to improve their social, economic and environmental conditions.

On top of the price farmers and workers receive for their produce or labour, they receive an extra sum of money to invest in improving the quality of their lives. This extra sum of money is called the Fairtrade Premium. Cocoa farmers, as an example, receive an extra $200 per tonne of cocoa beans they sell. In 2016, more than €150 million of Fairtrade Premium was generated through sales and given back to communities.

The Fairtrade Premium is paid at the co-operative level so that the farmers’ democratically elected representatives can decide how the money is spent. The farmers have the right to choose any activities that are important to their particular situation, aspirations and priorities.

When it comes to larger workforces, for example those working on banana plantations, worker committees decide on projects which benefit the workers, their families and communities. In 2015-16, plantation workers decided to invest 20% of their Fairtrade Premium in community projects and a quarter on investments in education.

Fairtrade works to support both banana farmers and workers employed on plantations. Our vision is to work with the banana trade to create more value for producers and ensure they get a decent price and decent pay for the hard labour that goes into growing our favourite fruit.

Bananas carrying the FAIRTRADE Mark have been produced by small farmer organisations or plantations that meet Fairtrade social, economic and environmental standards. The standards include protection of workers’ rights and the environment and payment of the Fairtrade Minimum Price and an additional Fairtrade Premium to invest in business or community projects.

Banana Link, alongside our Southern partners, are actively involved in Fairtrade efforts. We aim to ensure that the Fairtrade Mark guarantees workers on certified plantations have both the freedom to join an independent trade union and earn a living wage. We also lobby supermarkets to encourage them to source Fairtrade bananas.

Rainforest Alliance certification focuses on how farms are managed, with certification being awarded to farms that meet the comprehensive standards of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard, which encompasses all three pillars of sustainability—social, economic, and environmental—and empowers farmers with the knowledge and skills to negotiate for themselves in the global marketplace. Rainforest Alliance certification and trainings are teaching farmers, farm workers, and their families to farm efficiently and responsibly, growing their bottom lines today and conserving the fertile soils and natural resources on which they and their children will depend in the future.

Rainforest Alliance certification does not guarantee a minimum price for certified crops but works to improve the entire spectrum of farming practices. A farmer’s success depends on crop quality, productivity, and efficiency as well as sales price, which is why we address these four areas. We teach farmers to increase their bottom lines and conserve their soils and natural resources, all of which empowers them to become better business people and gives them more control over their futures.

Rainforest Alliance certification requires that all farm workers are paid at least the legal minimum wage and receive full rights and benefits. As part of the Rainforest Alliance certification process, SAN auditors collect information about salaries, including non-monetary benefits such as housing and medical care, and help to ensure that work hours are regulated, overtime is voluntary and compensated, and workers receive health and safety training.

This standard is based on an internationally recognised integrated pest management (IPM) model that allows for some limited, strictly controlled uses of agrochemicals. The standard goes beyond organic in a number of critical sectors, including wildlife conservation and worker welfare.

Rainforest Alliance certification requires farmers to use biological alternatives where possible and reduce their overall use of pesticides. The Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard strictly prohibits the use of the most dangerous chemicals, as well as agrochemicals not registered in the country of use or that are banned in the EU and USA. It also prohibits all genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

In 2016 Banana Link published two reports which questioned the sustainability of Rainforest’s standards, in the light of an announcement that discount retailer Lidl that it would sell Rainforest certified bananas. These reports documented evidence that their critical criteria on freedom to join an independent union are not being implemented on certified farms, along with other weakness in their certification system.

Health: organic agriculture should sustain and promote the health of soil, plant, animal, person and planet as single and indivisible.
Ecology: organic agriculture should be based on living ecological cycles and systems, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them.

Fairness: organic agriculture should be based on relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities.

Care: organic agriculture should be managed in a responsible manner and with caution to protect the health and well-being of present and future generations and the environment.

An organic label indicates that a product has been certified against specific organic standards. The label carries the name of the certification body and the standards with which it complies, (e.g. EU 2092/91). Certification bodies evaluate operations according to different organic standards and can be formally recognised by more than one authoritative body. Many certification bodies operate worldwide, most of which are private and originate in developed countries.

Requirements for organic certification vary from country to country, and generally involve a set of production standards that include:

• avoidance of synthetic chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives), irradiation, and the use of sewage sludge;
• avoidance of genetically modified seed;
• use of farmland that has been free from prohibited chemical inputs for a number of years (often, three or more);
• keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail);
• maintaining strict physical separation of organic products from non-certified products;
• undergoing periodic on-site inspections.

There is a growing recognition in the global export banana trade that the prevailing intensive monoculture production model is not sustainable, and that the development alternative production models is a pressing necessity.

Banana Link works within the World Banana Forum’s Working Group on Sustainable Production Systems and Environmental Impact to promote viable alternative production methods, as part of which, we produced the video below which looks at the technical challenges and the economics of organic production at Compagnie Fruitière‘s organic banana production in Ghana.