Switch Africa Green Project: Promoting Sustainable Local Agriculture through

Green Retail & Green Hospitality

Stakeholder Workshop on Roadmap for promotion of the MauriGAP standard
Date: 28 February 2018

Venue: Hennessy Park Hotel, Ebene

Proceedings of discussions on Proposed Roadmap (2018 – 2022)

1 Introduction

Achieving sustainable agriculture in Mauritius, in particular with the recent introduction of the
horticultural MauriGAP standard (Good Agricultural Practices), is recognised by all as a common goal.
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable cultivation (FFV) has been chosen initially as the focus of the project, due to
related consumer health concerns as well as the livelihood of the small planter community. This EU-
sponsored Switch Africa Green project identified the retail and the hospitality sectors as an essential
lever in generating demand for sustainably produced FFV. It aims at supporting the transformation
towards an inclusive green economy by enabling small planters to start and develop resource efficient
and green business based on sustainable production practices. The project developed customized
support packages in sustainable procurement, hotspot analysis and green marketing with respect to
fresh fruits and vegetables and trained 30 managers in hotel and retail sectors. Pilot projects were
initiated in the retail sector focusing on making MauriGAP-certified products available to consumers
at affordable prices and in the hotel sector focusing on agro-tourism and international sustainability
standards relevant to the sector. They will have to be sustained after the end of the Switch Africa Green
project in April 2018 and replicated in order to create critical mass of MauriGAP certified products.
This process has to be supported by the development and implementation of conducive policies and
actions through a multi-stakeholder approach.

On 28 March 2018, a stakeholder workshop, involving especially policy makers and planters, was
organised to validate a roadmap, proposed by the team, for promoting MauriGAP standard after the
Switch Africa Green project and replicate the pilot projects.

2 Workshop approach

The team developed a proposed roadmap which consisted of:

1. Targets / objectives for the five years after the end of Switch Africa Green project, specifically
aiming at farmers adoption of MauriGAP, the certification system, government and private
sector procurement policies, consumer understanding of MauriGAP, the contribution of
education system
2. The conceptual framework of the roadmap structured into five strategic dimensions, namely
farmers & sustainable supply, certification system, consumer awareness & marketing of
MauriGAP, support from Government and sectoral policies and the “pull” from retail and hotel
supply chains.
 3. Challenges to the scaling-up of MauriGAP identified from the project implementation
4. Proposed actions developed the analysis of the challenges
5. Proposed timeframe for implementation of the actions for immediate (2018), medium term
(2019 – 2020) and long term (2021 - 2022)

The strategy of the five dimensions of the roadmap are as follows:

 Farmers and sustainable supply – enhance mindset and practices at the level of farmers,
improve the linkages between the market and farmers in order to build a regular supply of
MauriGAP-certified products and enhance extension services and technical services provided
to farmers
 Certification – enhance quality assurance in FFV, sustain and enhance of the MauriGAP
certification system and supporting testing laboratories, and harmonise MauriGAP and GAP
standards at regional / international level
 Consumer awareness and marketing of MauriGAP – enhance public awareness and the
support from distribution channels whilst ensuring a fair distribution of economic benefits to
farmers
 Government / Policy support – develop a conducive environment for up-scaling the adoption
of MauriGAP through better enforcement of relevant regulations, securing funding for
sustenance of MauriGAP initiatives, developing multi-stakeholder platform for dialogue and
setting up of mechanisms which will promote farmer linkages with the market
 Demand pull from retailers and hotels – promote sustainable procurement, green marketing
and awareness raising to grow the demand for MauriGAP-certified FFV

The workshop participants received the proposed roadmap two days ago to have some time for
reading, consultation with colleagues and formulation of ideas which they could contribute to the
workshop. During the workshop, they listened to presentation on stratus of MauriGAP implementation
the achievements and challenges from stakeholders in the pilot projects, the findings of the survey on
awareness of FFV producers on MauriGAP standards and certification, and explanations on the
proposed roadmap.

During the workshop discussion, the participants were grouped into the above five strategic
dimensions and each group had to:

 validate the proposed actions with respect to the challenges

 validate the timeframe for the implementing the proposed actions
 identify the organisations who would lead the actions and the potential collaborators
 identify linkages between actions in this particular dimension and the other dimensions
 identify additional actions which would address further the challenges

3 Proceedings

3.1 Farmers and sustainable supply

The group identified that it was not feasible to create a special unit at FAREI for handholding farmers
from training to application for certification in MauriGAP. The rationale is that this decision is beyond
the scope of FAREI and should be considered at higher level of policy making (Ministry). Instead they
recommended that this work could be integrated within the scope of duties of FAREI extension officers
and this measure should be accompanied by capacity building.
It was also identified that the MauriGAP stand / information point at Salon de l’Agriculture is a one-off
exercise and thus inadequate. Instead they recommended that this information point / kiosk should
be planned to be present on a continuous basis in different forums, such as cooperative fairs,
agricultural fairs, self-running projections / adverts in supermarket and government institutions, to
provide information on MauriGAP to farmers.

It was proposed that training in pesticide use and MauriGAP should be made compulsory at the level
of registration for Planter’s card.

They also identified that education on MauriGAP should be country-wide instead of being focused in
specific areas.

3.2 Certification
The MACB confirmed that recruitment of additional auditors is under way. The group identified that
resource planning (especially staff) should be carried out at the level of Ministry for increase in the
rate of applications from planters.

The MACB website, with the database of certified producers, is already under construction.

The organization is working on the accreditation to ISO 17065, the ISO Standard for Certification
Bodies, with deadline scheduled for 2021.

The group identified that MauriGAP certification by private auditing companies / laboratories is not
feasible for the time being.

The group felt that benchmarking MauriGAP with other GAP standards can be done but with a later
schedule.

The group identified that the networking platform promoting dialogue between institutions and the
massive sensitization campaign on MauriGAP should be immediate.

Regarding the certification process, it was identified the Ministry of Agro Industry should be leading
institution.

The following additional actions were identified:

 Training of salesmen working for agro-chemical suppliers

 Training and certification of worker / operations in the application of agro-chemicals
 Revamping of the services provided by extension officers where recommendations on the
application of agro-chemicals are provided in the form of prescription
 Utilization of MauriGAP logo by retailers

3.3 Consumer awareness and marketing of MauriGAP

The group identified FAREI as the neutral body to promote MauriGAP to different stakeholders. The
major campaign should be supported and endorsed by the different policy makers. The communication
campaign should be funded by Private Public Partnership, involving the Agricultural Marketing Board,
consumer associations, retailers, communication specialists and media organisations.

The media campaign should focus on safety of farmers and consumers, value or benefits of MauriGAP-
certified products, food security and environment protection. Social media was found as an important
vector to reach the nation.

The immediate target audience should be the farmers’ families as they are the ones to be affected
first.
In terms of message, MauriGAP should be perceived as less dangerous instead of healthy.

The group agreed that segregation of MauriGAP-certified products would substantially improve
consumer awareness, but be a challenge as well since segregation and packing require investment.
They identified both voluntary and compulsory standards have their potential to improve public health
and limitations. They identified that voluntary adoption standards would require segregation of
certified product and packaging (which has a cost and impacts on environment) whilst compulsory
standards would not require packaging and segregation.

The group identified that voluntary adoption of standards would sustain easy access to certification of
MauriGAP (Level I). However, emphasis should be laid on the learning process for farmers to upgrade
to MauriGAP levels II and III.

With voluntary standards, it was identified that it is vital to sensitise planters that MauriGAP
sensitization, training, and certification are being provided without any charge and the planters should
be motivated to take up this opportunity.

The group identified that the MauriGAP certification can be kept voluntary, but this situation should
have a moratorium period before becoming compulsory. Compulsory compliance is important to
reduce the health impacts of FFV at national level. The decision to make MauriGAP compulsory should
be based on whether there is a critical mass of MauriGAP-certified planters. This moratorium period
would be providing planters with a period to transit from traditional / existing practices to good
agricultural practices. The length of the moratorium period could not be agreed upon.

On the other hand, there were comments that it is the government prerogative to ensure the survival
of the planter community, which is very vulnerable to several external factors such as climate change.
Thus

3.4 Government / Policy support

To support development of policies and promote dialogue, the group identified that the
implementation of a formalized stakeholder forum, with all relevant stakeholders, as very important.

It was proposed to reinforce the inspection team to assure effective control of MauriGAP standards
and ensure regular inspection of planters post-certification.

It was found feasible to integrate MauriGAP in the procurement of the forthcoming national auction
market.

It was proposed that SME Mauritius should be leading the action of motivating farmers for MauriGAP
certification, support them in export whilst exploring and promoting potential MauriGAP markets.

An equivalent standard should be identified for controlling imported FFV in order to ensure level
playing field between local farmers and imported FFV.

FAREI should host the website for one-stop service on MauriGAP information and linking the website
to the Directory of certified planters.

To promote the role of cooperatives in the scaling up of the adoption of MauriGAP by planters, it was
proposed that the Ministry of Cooperatives, in collaboration with FAREI, promotes the active role of
the Cooperative Advisory Board and the Cooperatives Training School to support farmer cooperatives,
through consultations, technical assistance and capacity building, in the promotion of MauriGAP
schemes and implementation of good agricultural practices at the level of their members.
Since only 20-30% of planters are estimated to be members of farmer cooperatives, it was proposed
that FAREI should work together with Small Planters Welfare Fund and set public / private partnerships
with the involvement of small planters to reach a wider range of planters. Moreover, FAREI should
work with the Ministry of Cooperatives to attract more farmer cooperatives in the active promotion
of MauriGAP and keep them abreast of updated initiatives / projects with regard to good agricultural
practices.

It is very important to develop an integrated approach at the level of project development and project
funding as there exists several opportunities at the level of development partners. MauriGAP is a
national initiative where all relevant stakeholders, such as private sector, planter associations and
consumer associations, should be involved in a coherent manner. This approach will ensure efficient
use of funding and higher project impacts. The reason is that often funding for sustainability projects
come in a piece meal manner and this becomes a challenge to achieve targets set.

It was confirmed that there is a need to devise policy and standards for cool-chain management for
FFV and be integrated in the Food Act as current regulations do not cover adequately the cool chain
management of FFV and to ensure better safety practices in the supply chain of FFV and support the
extension of enforce of food safety regulations to FFV. The leading institution was proposed to be
Ministry of Health and Quality of life and the implementation of the new policy and standards should
be long-term as the investment in logistics facilities is substantial.

It was proposed that FAREI sets up a Business Development Unit and market intelligence in the
immediate term to handhold farmers in developing specific marketing strategies for MauriGAP-
certified FFV and promote farmer-retailer linkages and improve produce distribution channels.

The team identified that the Government sustainable procurement programme is already existing. In
order to link farmers to the government programme, it is essential to increase the volume of
MauriGAP-certified produce as this can become a hurdle whilst registering suppliers for hospitals and
canteens. The team felt that this measure could be feasible by year 2020.

It was also identified that there is a need to develop education and capacity building programmes for
technology providers, especially those involved in the supply of agrochemicals and equipment for
disseminating the chemicals, so that they understand their respective role in this national initiative
and that they support farmers with alternative solutions which are more in line with sustainable
agricultural practices. This need is a priority area to be addressed.

3.5 Demand pull from retailers and hotels

The group identified that in order to motivate hotels to implement sustainable procurement, there is
a need to increase the number of certified planters whilst improving supply consistency and reliability
at the level of farmers. At the level of certification, it was identified that there is to have lesser
continuous changes in the documents required for application and instructions provided by MACB to
applicants. The group felt that this actions can be implemented in the medium term.

It was identified that the development of logo or “Etablissement partenaire” certification /

qualification for retailers and hotels is imminent for the latter to engage in green marketing to promote
MauriGAP-certified FFV.

The group identified that the price of MauriGAP-certified produce is being maintained low to remain
competitive. However, the price for economic payback has to be calculated.

It was proposed that MauriGAP should become compulsory after 2022.

For the implementation of agro-tourism strategy, it is essential to improve the collaboration between
hotels and local planters and ensure health and safety during the visit of tourists on the farms.

Farmers are the main supply chain actor bearing all the operational and business risks which could
arise during the implementation of MauriGAP and the sales of MauriGAP-certified produce. On the
other hand, consumers are still unaware of MauriGAP, leading to a lack of visibility on certified produce
and challenges to differentiate certified produce. There are also the risks of products mixing along the
supply chain. These issues are not motivating factors for hotels and retailers to further promote
MauriGAP-certified produce. Thus, there is a strong need to increase visibility on MauriGAP at the level
of consumers and product traceability, which would help in implementing a premium price which
shared to the planters and engage hotels and retailers in this government initiative. It is also important
to have qualitative tools to measure the impacts of sustainability on business performance, which
would help actors in the agro supply chain to review their business model. This would be vital as long
as MauriGAP is a voluntary standard.