DAVAO CITY – International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group has been showing Davao agribusiness leaders how Rainforest Alliance certification can benefit the entire supply chain, including big companies, small farming communities, regulators, and consumers.

The internationally recognized certification of sustainable farming practices gives qualifying farms the right to use the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal, which guarantees consumers that the farms take good care of their workers, communities, and the environment. Certification reduces costs and increases savings for producers by assuring efficient, effective, and environment-friendly farm practices.

“Whether reforesting old farmland, building schools and medical facilities, or providing farm workers with just wages, the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal indicates sustainable practices and a sustainable future,” said Sabrina Vigilante, Rainforest Alliance’s chief of marketing.

IFC is working with a leading exporter to train out-grower banana farmers for Rainforest Alliance certification that will enable their crops to meet premium market standards and increase their income. Out-grower farms in Philippines supply up to 50 percent of the production of the Cavendish
banana export industry, the country’s tenth-largest export valued at $400 million in 2007.

“Lessons learned from the project will be applied to other banana out-grower farms working with other leading firms and to other crop sectors,” said Colin Taylor, IFC manager of the Davao City-based Agribusiness Linkages Program, who spoke at a local conference IFC organized recently for agribusiness industry leaders.

Peter Sprang of Rainforest Alliance’s Asia Pacific regional office, said: “Globally, we are certifying coffee, chocolates, tea, bananas, mangoes, pineapples, and avocadoes, among other agricultural products. Right now, the certification standards in place in the Philippines pertain only to bananas and pineapples. We are still in the process of developing local indicators for certification of Philippine crops including coffee, cacao, sugarcane, oil palm and coconut.”

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, claims it creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. It fosters sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Its new investments totaled $16.2 billion in fiscal 2008.

International Alliance, on the other hand, is an international nonprofit organization working to conserve biodiversity and to ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use business practices, and consumer berhavior. Rainforest Alliance involves businesses and consumers in bringing responsibly-produced goods and services to a marketplace where the demand for sustainable production is growing steadily. It has certified 18 percent of bananas, 1.3 percent of coffee and 3 percent of tea products that are globally traded.