Flower growers in Ethiopia have taken the first step towards working sustainably in accordance with international standards. To this end, the training teams who supported the growers made use of LEI’s expertise.
Fifty Ethiopian flower-growing companies have been successfully monitoring their use of water, fertilisers, pesticides and energy and their production of hazardous waste since 2009. They offer good conditions of employment and safe working conditions for their staff.
Sixteen of these companies were certified last year at the bronze level of the EHPEA Code of Practice. The other 34 companies will follow in April and May this year. This relates to a local code of conduct for sustainable flower growing, developed by the employers’ organisation EHPEA in cooperation with LEI. This includes guidelines on matters such as health & safety and environmental protection. LEI is now investigating the impact of this code on the basis of field research at forty companies. This is a justifiable sample, as both companies performing well and those lagging behind are examined.
The results of this evaluation will be published in May. The first findings show that the companies satisfy the ILO conditions of employment and that the safety relating to the storage and use of pesticides satisfy international conditions. Staff and management are also better informed of what is expected of them and they are able to design improvement plans together.
The code is an initial step towards the basic international standards for horticulture in the field of sustainability. This makes it easy to satisfy Global GAP, MPS ABC and MPS SQ. Once Ethiopian growers meet these requirements, their image improves and new markets may open up for them.
More about this subject: Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association