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ArticlesPesticides Initiative Programme (PIP): “Survey of fresh fruit and vegetable exporters in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Pesticides Initiative Programme (PIP): “Survey of fresh fruit and vegetable exporters in sub-Saharan Africa.”
The PIP survey found that while ‘traceability emerged as one of the most significant requirements requested by buyers in recent years …, surprisingly it was not generally considered as difficult to meet’. Most companies, with the benefit of external support, ‘have risen to the challenge by installing traceability systems’, illustrating ‘the capacity of ACP exporters to adapt and meet new technical requirements’. This highlights the importance of pump-priming public sector assistance to help ACP producers and exporters to meet private voluntary standards, and suggests a need to expand such support.
Equally there may well be a need to look at the impact that private voluntary standards have on the distribution of power along food supply chains. The issue of the functioning of supply chains is receiving increasing attention within the EU. There may well be a case for PIP to be extended in the context of the implementation of the free-trade area agreements being concluded in the form of (I)EPAs. It may include research into the functioning of major food supply chains, where private voluntary standards and other food-safety and SPS regulations are impacting on the distribution of commercial power along food supply chains.
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