MAX HAVELAAR BELGIUM

Fair Trade Certification of Soya in Brazil

Max Havelaar Belgique

Start : 1991

Max Havelaar is a fair trade certification organization. As such, it does not buy or sell any products.

The Max Havelaar label can be found only on products that meet international criteria for fair trade. These bear on production criteria and prices: for example, payment of a fair price, prohibition of child labour, freedom to organize a union and respect for the environment form part of it. This label is found on an ever-expanding range of products: coffee, fresh fruits, fruit juices, chocolate, tea, cane sugar, rice, wine, cotton (clothing, household linens), cosmetics, roses, and so on.

Context: Soya is both a blessing and a curse

Soya is a food product with exceptional nutritional qualities, used principally as food for livestock and humans. As early as the mid-seventies, giant factories were being built in Latin American countries to produce soya oils and meet the growing demand. Brazil and Argentina grew to be serious competitors to the US, and in the last few years they have overtaken the US as the main worldwide exporter of soya.

Since then, the area given over to the extensive cultivation of soya has not stopped growing, displacing small producers and reducing the available surface area for food production. Many farmers have left their land or sold it at low prices to the giants in the food-processing industry. Soya culture, practised in rotation with other cultures, today still employs some 350,000 small producers in Brazil, representing 13% of national production.

Another major threat to the independence of small producers is genetically modified soya which accounts for around 60% of all soya production.

In the last ten years various initiatives have been launched to draw up standards in soya production but these efforts do not always provide guarantees on social justice in the commercial channels, especially for small producers. They mainly aim at reducing the damage caused by deforestation of the rainforests, and the loss of biodiversity in the Amazon and in the Cerrado region of Brazil. Small producers believe they offer little or no guarantee for the maintenance of family farming models; hence the need to create specific measures aimed at market access for small producers in soya production.

“International Trade should bring a fair deal for all actors” (Max Havelaar Belgium)

Supersoya

Max Havelaar Belgium thinks fair trade soya would give added value both in terms of consumer choice and the producer-deal that this product offers. The organization first consulted the market, to evaluate demand for soya-based products, and undertook participative research work with producers in Brazil. As for other products, it is necessary to determine the scope of future certification at production level (identification of small producers, farm scale, inclusion of hired labour, contract farming).

Fair trade certification of soya would be a fair deal for small producers who want to use sustainable agricultural practices to obtain better and more stable incomes. Fair Trade soya could also provide an alternative for those consumers who are aware and concerned about the ill effects of large-scale soya production. Specifically it would go a long way to encouraging Brazilian producers to avoid GM soya. The FLO does not allow GM seeds to be employed by its certified producers.

Finally in the long-term it could help to counteract the ill effects of large-scale soya production and contribute to a more sustainable economy, primarily in the hands of family farms.