Chile will unveil this month one of the world’s first industry-wide efforts to create a set of sustainability tools for its fresh fruit business, the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (Asoex) has exclusively revealed to Americafruit, Asiafruit and Eurofruit.
The initiative comprises a guideline on best practices, a checklist for self evaluation and a collection of resources to facilitate the application of techniques related to sustainability.
The best practice guide – compiled by the Fruit Development Foundation (FDF) and the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (Asoex), with the support of Chile’s Export Promotional Bureau (ProChile) and the agriculture ministry – benchmarks sustainability protocols and agendas published by authorities and retail customers from around the world, and presents them in an easy-to-use online format.
While sustainability has no singly recognised definition, the guide outlines the key elements that growers and exporters need to be aware of, allows them to analyse the situation of their own growing operation, and identifies basic measures that can be undertaken to bring any business into line with the demands of global customers.
The free-to-download guide has been written for Chile’s fresh fruit growers. It will be launched at the Global Berry Congress, organised by Eurofruit in Santiago on 24-26 April, and subsequently introduced to Chile’s fruit sector through an extensive communications campaign in the following weeks.
“This is an industry initiative which brings together and harmonises the most relevant international sustainability guidelines in a format that is both understandable and relevant at a grower level,” explained Francisco Letelier, president of FDF.
“The same principles are applicable further along the supply chain, for which the guide will be customised in the coming months.”
The full report is published in the April issues of Asiafruit and Eurofruit and the April/May issue of Americafruit.
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