Fair-Mark – Fair-Mark

Who we are...

Fair-Mark is a multinational company founded in Zimbabwe that supports food and agriculture industries in meeting compliance and responsible sourcing requirements for international markets.

About Fair-Mark

The issues surrounding agricultural exports have for long been subject to severe debate and often fall out on world forums like the World Trade Organisation (WTO). One of the major causes of these disagreements arises from differences in the obtaining procedures on phytosanitary measures and rules of origin of different trade blocks for example SADC or ACP.
It is in this light that efforts have been set in motion to harmonise global approaches to these issues. Among these efforts are various Standards and Accreditation such as GlobalGAP, FairTrade, HACCP etc.

The certifications have been created as a response to the demands of consumers, were retailers and their global suppliers have created and implemented a series of sector specific farm certification standards. The standards are primarily designed to reassure consumers about how food is produced on the farm by minimising detrimental environmental impacts of farming operations, reducing the use of chemical inputs and ensuring a responsible approach to worker health and safety as well as animal welfare. The aim is to ensure integrity, transparency and harmonisation of global agricultural standards.
These standards serve as a practical manual for Good Agricultural Practice (G.A.P.) anywhere in the world. As an example GLOBALGAP is a single integrated standard with modular applications for different product groups, ranging from plant and livestock production to plant propagation materials and compound feed manufacturing. This new standard version integrates all farm products into a single farm audit.

The origins of GLOBALGAP started as an initiative by European retailers in 1997, the Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group (EUREP), were they came up with a EurepGAP document and procedures as agreed among partners from the entire food chain for Fruit and Vegetables after a wide consultation phase. The EurepGAP TSC for Fruit and Vegetables was evaluated and approved the new versions of the normative documents for fruit and vegetables – the EurepGAP General Regulations for Fruit and Vegetables, the Control Points and Compliance Criteria, and the Checklist. These versions were converted from EUREP to GLOBAL so that they encompass the global demands and expectations, and no longer limited to Europe, but now apply to the Global arena. Feed-back from audits have been incorporated to make the new version of the standard more relevant to today’s concerns and advanced production techniques.

GLOBALGAP is a private sector body that sets voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products around the globe. The standard serves as a global reference system for other existing standards and can also easily and directly be applied by all parties of the primary food sector.
In other words, GLOBALGAP operates like a satellite navigation system. It equips members with a reliable tool kit, which allows each partner in the supply chain to position themselves in a global market with respect to consumer requirements.

About Fair-Mark

The implications of standards vis-à-vis the Zimbabwean horticultural producer are that all exports to the EU and UK, for example would need to be certified. In other words, the farmer or grower of fresh produce intending to export to Europe will have his farming process go through some rigorous testing and inspection by specific accreditation bodies. These tests will cover worker health, safety and welfare, environmental and animal welfare issues. It is only after the inspectors are satisfied that a grower can be certified. The system is a quality management system just like ISO. It is not a once-off certification but rather involves continuous assessments. A number of Zimbabwean growers currently hold the GlobalGAP certificate.

It would be desirable if all farmers and small holders could acquire GLOBALGAP certification. In this regard it may mean that growers would have to invest more in safety, health and environment in their farming operations. The nearest accredited certifying bodies which Zimbabwean producers can use are in South Africa.

Meanwhile, Europe remains a lucrative market for Zimbabwean products regardless of all that has transpired. The country must fully exploit this market. It is important to note that the certification is not only useful when exporting to Europe alone, but it has become a world standard.

Fair-Mark is the only company in Zimbabwe providing the service of training, development and implementation of GlobalGap and other standards.

Meet the Expert

About Clarence Mwale

QUALIFICATIONS

A recipient of a few awards and recognition, including the Mahindra Agro-Innovater of the year 2020 in Zimbabwe, Clarence Mwale has over 14 years of working experience in the agricultural industry in Zimbabwe. He has vast knowledge from a number of trainings in international food and agriculture standards, marketing, integrated pest management, auditing and EU/UK regulations. Clarence Mwale has trained a number of farm and pack-house workers, managers and agronomists in Africa with regards to GlobalGAP, Fair-Trade, HACCP, BRC, Tesco’s Nurture’s, BSCI, Sedex and SMETA, Rainforest Alliance and ISO etc.

ATTRIBUTES

He is excellent manager and good team player with a fervent quest for success.

EDUCATION & QUALIFICATIONS

Steinbeis University-Berlin Master of business administration

University of South Africa degree in International Relations and Diplomacy

Institute of Marketing Management degree in Business Administration

British Agrochemicals Standards Inspection Scheme (BASIS)-Nairobi, Kenya

Fertilizer Advisors’ Certification and Training (FACTS)-Nairobi, Kenya

Global Gap Public Trainer–Cologne, Germany

EureGap Internal Auditing-Harare, Zimbabwe

Integrated Pest Management for Managers-Harare, Zimbabwe

Regulations and private standards training certificate

Management of Food Safety Risks certificate

Crop Protection certificate

Hygiene and Food Safety Management certificate

Certificate in Traceability

Risk Analysis and Control in Production certificate

Operator Safety and Good Crop Protection Practices certificate

Certificate in Sustainable and Responsible Production

Certificate Organic Fruit and Vegetable Production in ACP countries

Biological Control and Intergated Crop Protection certificate

Certificate in Ethical Production

Techniques in Communication and Training

EXPERIENCE

2008- Pres, Standards and Regulations Consultant, Fair-Mark

He founded company, Fair-Mark
Key responsibilities include preparing farmers, both commercial and small scale, and packhouses for accreditation in various international private standards. Liaison with the certification bodies (NSF, SGS) and aid-organizations. Has been working with various NGO’s in a bid to promote capacity building programs in the country for good agricultural practices (GAP), for purposes of exporting into the E.U. And poverty alleviation. Mr. Mwale good relations with export agencies in the country and beyond.

He is ear-marked to participate in capacity development projects organized by non governmental and governmental organizations in the region. He has managed to get accreditation for 17 standards including GlobalGAP, Tesco Nurture’s Choice, BRC, Albert Heijn, SEDEX-SMETA, Fair-Trade, BSCI, ISO, SAS-RFA, etc. Has also been involved in contracts to train and audit in Private Voluntary Standards around ACP Group of States during this period.

2004- 2008, Manager, Selby Enterprises (PVT) Ltd, Zimbabwe
He comes from a highly reputable past relationship with the biggest export company in
Zimbabwe where he was responsible for training of employees and internal auditing of the company. In charge of company adherence to strict export, packhouse and out-grower standards. Overseeing GAP implementation on over 100 commercial farmers dotted around the country, and over 500 small scale initiatives. Successfully trained and managed accreditation processes of the numerous projects, large and small, over the 5-year-stretch.

Has been management delegate in many negotiating forums especially for sustenance of the various synergies that existed between the export agents (Selby Enterprises and Migros Syndicate) and various markets at a time when Zimbabwe was reeling under a massive economic and political downturn. Has been an interceding office-bearer between management and the workforce in social welfare discussions and initiatives.

Was responsible for research and implementation of changes in standards. Worked
hand-in-hand with the agronomy and quality control departments to ensure that set standards and regulation (local and market requirements) are adhered to. Have been a management representative on Fair-Trade Joint Bodies for fruit and vegetables and cut flowers.

2002-2003, Managing Farm Produce Retail Shop, Linkfront Farming, Zimbabwe
In charge of managing all personnel, conducting company marketing, public relations, and quality control.
Responsible for assuring adherence to local retail standards.

ASSOCIATE REFERENCES
Colin Colegrave Afruita
Shaun Philp Forrester Estates
Adam Selby Selby Enterprises
Simon Philp Husquarvana
Julias Guni Tanganda

Our Approach

Our Vision

To continue providing services in capacity development in market requirements, regulations and standards. To reach out to farmers in all levels, commercial and small scale.

Our Creed

We believe in playing our part in the growth of development of the African countries by imparting knowledge and allowing access to international markets.

Working with a company that has experience and first-hand knowledge of Private Voluntary Standards and information on latest developments, simplifies your audit preparation and understanding of the standards. We can help you get certified with:

Click on logo to get more information.

Nurture

Nurture is a PVS reserved exclusively for Tesco that relates to responsible fruit and vegetable production. By adhering to the Nurture standard, the producers commit themselves:

To implementing a traceability system that allows a product to be tracked back to its source.
To growing and selecting high quality fruits and vegetables.
to demonstrating their commitment to the protection of animals and the conservation of habitats.
To adopting sustainable agricultural practices in terms of energy and natural resources use, including recycling.
To using pesticides, fertilizers, and manure in a rational manner; furthermore, the producers shall use natural pest and disease control methods such as solarisation of soils as much as possible.
To ensuring that all of their employees are treated fairly.

Fair Trade

The Fair Trade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) comprises two entities, FLO e.v., the umbrella organisation described above that coordinates the Fairtrade label internationally, and FLO-Cert, a private holding of FLO e.v. that conducts audits and authorises producers to use the Fairtrade trademark.
FLO e.v. used various internationally recognised standards and conventions, especially those of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), as a basis for establishing the criteria of its equitable standards. The standards are organised by product and type of production structure around 3 themes: social, economic, and environmental.
The FAIRTRADE trademark is now one of the mostly widely respected social and development labels in the world. The trademark is held and copyrighted by FLO e.v. in the name of its members. Originally, the Fairtrade labelling initiatives created by FLO e.v. had different labels. The international FAIRTRADE certification trademark was created in 2002 and it gradually replaced the different national labels. Two FLO e.v. members still use their own original labels. In Canada and in the United States, the Fair Trade Certified™ labels indicate compliance with the criteria of the FLO e.v. standards.

Field to Fork

“Field to Fork” is a PVS specific to the British retail chain Marks & Spencer. This PVS relates to the production and processing phases of food products and thus effectively covers not only good agricultural and manufacturing/processing practices but also health quality, environmental stewardship, and decent working conditions.

Global GAP

EUREPG.A.P. was created in 1997 as the result of an initiative by major retail chains involved in the Euro-Retailer Produce (EUREP) working group. British retailers in conjunction with continental European supermarkets were the driving forces behind this initiative. In response to the growing concerns of consumers about product safety and environmental and labour standards, they decided to harmonise their own, often very different standards.
In order to make the name EUREPG.A.P. synonymous with the project for establishing the international pre-eminence of the GAP standard, and to avoid any confusion with the growing number of players from the public sector and civil society, it was decided to change the EUREPG.A.P. trademark to GLOBALG.A.P.

Fair-Mark is licensed with GlobalGap to give proffesional advice. Approval may be verified on link https://www.globalgap.org/de/profiles/Mwale/

Rain Forest Alliance

The “Rainforest Alliance” is an American NGO dedicated to conserving the world’s biodiversity and ensuring decent living conditions by modifying agricultural and business practices and consumer behaviour. The Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) established the standards of the initiative, in compliance with the ISEAL Alliance codes of good practices for establishing social and environmental standards.

SEDEX

SEDEX (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange ) is a membership organisation for businesses committed to continuous improvement of the ethical performance of their production-distribution chains. SEDEX is a non-profit organisation. It was created in 2001 by a group of British retailers and their main suppliers. These businesses all saw the need to collaborate and harmonise their ethical standards and audits. Hence the goals of SEDEX are:

To reduce the number of ethical audits that big name suppliers must undergo
To actually improve the standards relating to working conditions

SEDEX membership is now open to all companies regardless of their geographic location. In practice, SEDEX provides companies with a database enabling them to store and exchange information and audits of an ethical nature. SMETA is the acronym for SEDEX Members Ethical Trade Audit. It consists of three elements: a common guideline for the best auditing practices applicable to ethical trade, a common format for corrective action plans, a common format for audit reports.

The SMETA guidelines and report formats were developed by the group of auditors associated with SEDEX in response to demands by members, who wanted an ethics report format that facilitated exchange as well as greater transparency regarding the qualifications and practices of auditors. SMETA spares businesses the unnecessary effort of having to produce redundant ethical auditing reports.

SMETA is not a new code of conduct, nor is it a regulatory standard for audits. Instead it is a compilation of best practices in terms of ethics auditing techniques. The results of the audits are then used to build the SEDEX database. SEDEX differs from the 3 other ethical initiatives studied thus far. It is neither a standard nor a code of conduct, but a tool for businesses and a set of good auditing practices.

Food Safety System Certification 22 000

The Food Safety System Certification 22000 is a “B-to-B” PVS for food safety management systems that is based on the food safety management standard ISO 22000: 2005, “Requirements for all organisations involved in the food supply chain” and on the Publicly Available Specification of the British Standards Institution 220: 2008 “Prerequisite Programmes for Food Fafety in Food Manufacturing (BSI PAS 220: 2008).”
The Publicly Available Specification 220 of the British Standards Institution (BSI PAS220) is a document designed as an aid in implementing the ISO 22000 standard. The latter expressly requires the implementation of a prerequisite programme (PRP)17 and provides a list of headings to consider, but without specifically stating what the PRPs should encompass. The PAS 220 lists these PRPs for food and food ingredient manufacturing processes.
The idea is for all sectors to use ISO 22000 as a generic standard for food safety management systems and for the documents specific to each sector to cover each other’s needs.

Business Social Compliance Initiative

A non-profit organisation, the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI)51 is legally dependent on the Foreign Trade Association (FTA) and was created in 2003. The BSCI came into being as a result of the desire of a number of European businesses to harmonise and more coherency among their codes of conduct and verification systems.

The BSCI offers member businesses a common management system for improving working conditions along their supply chains world-wide. Like the ETI, the BSCI created a code of conduct for doing this.

In common with standard conventions, standards, and other international declarations on labour law and human, children’s, and women’s rights, the o bjective of the BSCI code of conduct is to enable businesses to become compliant with certain social and environmental standards. By adhering to the BSCI code of conduct, companies undertake to recognise, within their sphere of influence, the social and environmental standards set forth in the code and to take suitable measures in their company policy for ensuring the implementation and observance of these standards.

Furthermore, the suppliers must ensure that the code of conduct is also observed by subcontractors involved in the production processes and final manufacturing phases carried out on behalf of BSCI members. Depending on their options for action and suitable measures to adopt, these suppliers are obligated to adopt the following criteria for a developmental approach:

1. Observance of laws
2. Rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining
3. Ban on discrimination
4. Salaries
5. Work hours
6. Health and safety in the workplace
7. Ban on all abusive forms of child labour
8. Ban on all forms of forced and compulsory labour
9. Problems linked to the environment and safety

The BSCI provides its members with a series of recommendations and auditing tools for implementing this code of conduct. Only SAAS (Social Accountability Accreditation Services) accredited agencies may perform BSCI audits. Like the ETI, the BSCI encourages businesses to do more than what is required by the code of conduct and to comply with what the BSCI considers to be the best practice in the sector, namely the SA 8000 private voluntary standard. Unlike the SA 8000 and the ETI, the BSCI includes an environmental stewardship principle (no. 9) in its code of conduct.

Like the ETI and the SA 8000, however, there is no label on the final product (Bto-B). The BSCI provides businesses with a framework and a harmonised approach for managing their auditing procedures in order to ensure that the results of the audits conducted by different businesses are comparable with each other.

Ethical Trading Initiative

In 1998, a group of British businesses, NGOs, and trade unions came up with a new approach to protecting workers’ rights across all industrial sectors (from tea to textiles, from horticulture to footballs). The objective back then was to create an alliance of organisations that would work together to define how businesses must implement their labour codes in a manner that is both credible and maximises the positive impacts on all of their workers.

The first businesses to join the Ethical Trading Initiative47 (ETI) were ASDA, Premier Brands, The Body Shop, Littlewoods, and Sainsbury’s. Today, more than 50 businesses 48 are members of the ETI. These multinational corporations buy from 38,000 suppliers and employ more than 8 million workers throughout the world. The initiative is open to all businesses, although it is understood that the smallest among them will presumably encounter some difficulties in dedicating enough resources to fulfil the obligations that affiliation entails.

All affiliated business must, however, adopt the basic labour practices code of the ETI,which is based on ILO conventions.
The ETI Code of Conduct defines 9 basic principles :

The free choice of employment.
Respect of the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
Labour conditions must respect health and safety rules.
The ban on child labour.
Payment of a minimum wage.
Reasonable work hours.
No discriminatory practices.
Provision of regular employment.
The ban on resorting to harsh or inhumane treatment.

The principles of the code constitute minimum rather than maximum requirements for businesses. Just because a business adopts this code does not mean that it cannot do more than what is stated in the principles set forth above. Businesses are obviously also expected to obey national laws and any other laws in effect. When the laws and the ETI Code of Conduct cover the same subject, businesses must apply the clause that procures the best protection for the workers.

This code is accompanied by a number of principles of implementation for businesses, namely: a true commitment by the business to ethical trade (production), a genuine integration of ethical trade in corporate culture and practices, building the capacities of their suppliers and other stakeholders, the systematic identification of problems along the supply chain, the adoption of measures for improvement and, lastly, transparency in reporting.

The secretariat of the ETI, jointly with the trade union and civil society members, makes random visits every year to at least 20% of the member businesses. The purpose of these visits is to verify that the business has implemented adequate procedures and management systems for gathering the data needed for annual reporting.

BRC Global Standards

The British Retail Consortium (BRC ) is an umbrella association for a significant number of distributors in Great Britain. In response to the needs of the industry, the BRC developed the BRC Food Technical Standard in 1998. This standard is intended to be used for evaluating the food processing plants in order to assist the distributors and owners of food brands in their efforts to comply with the new European regulatory framework concerning the health safety of foods.

As mentioned in the first part of this chapter, in keeping with Regulation (EC) 178/2002, distributors and food brands are obligated to respect the principle of due diligence. This means that they must be able to demonstrate that all precautions for preventing noncompliance with health safety have been taken in order not to be held liable under law.

Despite its British origin, this PVS is now used in more than 100 countries throughout the world. The BRC Food Technical Standard is a so-called “B-to-B (business-to-business) PVS, in other words not accompanied by a label on the final product destined for the consumer.
Compliance with this PVS must be verified by a third party accredited as an
official certification body and respecting the BRC rules for auditing. Hence the BRC does Chapter 3 not audit businesses itself, but is the owner of the PVS and manager of the certification process.

The BRC Food Technical Standard is therefore intended for processors of food products, enabling them to attest to their Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and the quality management systems that they have implemented in order to ensure that the products that they sell fulfil the requirements of both their customers and the regulatory framework in effect. This PVS is thus applicable to any plant that processes or packages food products.

The standard has 7 chapters :
1. Involvement of the company management and continuous improvement: in order for a food health safety management system to work, it is essential for the company management to support the implementation and encourage the continuous improvement thereof.
2. The plan for health safety: the basis for a health quality management system is the implementation of the HACCP process, as defined in the Codex Alimentarius.
3. The quality and health quality management system: this section lists criteria for quality and health quality management based on the ISO 9000 standard that must be fulfilled. The criteria relate to the product specifications, the choice of suppliers, traceability, and management of incidents and recalls.
4. The standards for the sites: this part of the standard defines the constraints for the physical packaging and/or processing environment in terms of layouts, maintenance of the building and the machine fleet, cleaning, disease control and waste management. There is also a section that deals specifically with checking for foreign matter.
5. Product control: these are control points relating to the phases of product design and development, management of allergens, and also to product-testing laboratories and test phases.
6. Process control: this section relates to the establishment and maintenance of process controls, weight/volume controls, and calibration of the equipment.
7. Human resources: lastly, this part defines the criteria for training staff about wearing protective clothing and practising personal hygiene.

The costs for certification will depend (as is often the case) on the size of the site and on which systems have already been implemented in the business. It may turn out, for example, that the business must invest in order to upgrade its site, or that it may have to resort to outside expertise for documenting its procedures in preparation for an audit. BRC obviously has no control over these costs, nor over the auditing fees charged by the certification bodies.