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Contact person
For further information please contact:
Programme Office for Social and Ecological Standards
Tel: +49 6196 79-1459
Fax: +49 6196 79-6132
Email: social-ecological-standards@gtz.de
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GRASP
GRASP - Good Risk-based Agricultural Social Practices
“Every exporter and every supermarket demands different evidence to prove we are producing food the way we should; I’m so busy checking off these requirements that I virtually have no time left for my real work”, says one Kenyan smallholder who grows vegetables for export to Europe.
The initiative known as the Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group (Eurep) was founded in 1997 to harmonise retailers’ demands and standardise controls. In September 2007, the initiative was renamed GLOBALGAP. Many GLOBALGAP members are actively involved in the international food trade and source agricultural products globally. Their objective is to design broadly accepted standards and procedures for the certification of good agricultural practice (GAP). GLOBALGAP standards are constantly revised and aligned with the demands of farmers, traders and consumers.
GTZ has joined together with GLOBALGAP and the Swiss retailer Coop in a joint project in order to design criteria for good social practice in agriculture. These criteria were tested on farms in Kenya, Viet Nam, Brazil, Spain and Morocco and discussed at Round Tables with representatives of the private and public sectors as well as various actors from civil society.
The most important result of the project is a voluntary social module that is to be incorporated into existing food standards (such as GLOBALGAP standards). Guidelines have been drawn up to help businesses and auditors implement the social module. Companies and other interested stakeholders are invited to play an active part in the pilot implementation phase.
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