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Flower-Growers Seek Green Label |
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By Kintto Lucas *
QUITO - Colombia, Costa Rica and Ecuador, three
of Latin America's leading flower exporters, are attempting to catch
up with the requirements of the ''green seal'', an environmental
certification required by the European market, but the three have
a long way to go to achieve them.
Just 15 percent of Ecuador's flower production
has the approval of the German-based Flower Label Program (FLP,
green seal program), which assesses the sector's environmental and
labor practices, based on international standards and conventions.
Ecuador's Association of Flower Exporters
(Expoflores) launched a its own national version of a green seal
system, but the European Union prefers the seals granted by its
members and has rejected the Ecuadorian certification as a result
of reports of poor work conditions on the country's flower farms.
The Quito-based Center for Health Studies
and Assessment (CEAS) has denounced the environmental contamination
found on the farms and its impact on the health of the workers.
''Numerous women have had problems with their
pregnancies as a result of working with agro-chemicals'' on the
flower farms, says CEAS doctor Jaime Breilh.
The United States, destination for 70 percent
of the flowers Ecuador exports, requires flower production to comply
with certain International Standardization Organization (ISO) regulations.
Expoflores vice-president Jorge López explains
that the European green seal is more specific and tends to focus
on norms related to the environment, while the ISO takes other aspects
into accounts, such as business structure.
Though the lack of certification has not yet
been an obstacle for Ecuador's flowers, López believes that in the
future it will be indispensable for avoiding a sharp decline in
the sector's exports.
Ecuador's Central Bank reports that foreign
sales of flowers last year totaled 132.3 million dollars and represented
the country's fifth leading source of income.
In Colombia, meanwhile, there is no green seal
program, but 150 companies are part of ''Florverde'', an initiative
focusing on environmental and social improvement in flower farming.
Under this program, the flower businesses perform
a self-evaluation and then receive a visit from an auditor from
Asocolflores, the Environmental Office of the Colombian Association
of Flower-Growers, who verifies the data.
''The companies receive a classification, and
a benchmark is set in order to motivate competition for improvement,''
said Juan Carlos Izasa, head of Asocolflores.
This program has led to lower consumption of
pesticides and less contamination, according to Izasa, and has promoted
clearer and fairer labor regulations.
Colombia last year exported 581.9 million
dollars in flowers, four percent of the country's foreign sales,
according to official figures.
In Costa Rica, flower-growers do not have a
green seal, but last year five companies began a 12-month pilot
project in an attempt to obtain certification from the Dutch flower
marketer MPS.
Next month, when the pilot project ends, MPS
will evaluate the status of the participating companies and decide
whether or not to grant environmental certification.
If the flower-growers are approved, it ''would
favor exports to the European Union and benefit all who work in
the sector,'' said Jeanina Gutiérrez, an official at the Costa Rican
Chamber of Commerce.
''If the workers did not have a cafeteria (on
the farms) or appropriate protective suits for fumigating before,
now they will have them,'' she assured.
In 2000, Costa Rica exported 24.5 million dollars
in flowers, of which 85 percent went to the United States, and the
rest to European countries.
* Kintto Lucas is an IPS correspondent.
Yadira Ferrer (Bogota) and Néfer Muñoz (San José) contributed to
this story.
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