DIIS-seminar om småbønderne og værdikæden

Time: Monday, 14 June at 10.00 – 11.45 hours

Venue: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, ground floor, Strandgade 71, Christianshavn, 1401 Kbn K

Time: Monday, 14 June at 10.00 – 11.45 hours

Venue: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, ground floor, Strandgade 71, Christianshavn, 1401 Kbn K

A growing proportion of global agro-food trade is currently managed through the use of standards. This is the result of increasing consumer concern with food safety and ‘sustainability’, the leading role assumed by large supermarkets and processors in agro-food value chains, and massive investments by these in brand development and protection.

These trends have led to concerns among researchers and development agencies that low income country operators, particularly small-scale producers, will become excluded from remunerative value chains and from developed country markets.

In response to these concerns, development assistance has been targeted at a range of standards-related objectives.

This seminar presents the results of the four-year ‘Standards and Agro-Food Exports’ (SAFE) research and capacity building programme, which was designed to address some of these concerns.

The programme, funded by the Consultative Research Committee for Development Research (FFU) and other sources, was jointly conducted by DIIS and Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania.

The seminar follows the final conference of the programme – taking place at the end of May in Tanzania. It will also include the launch of the edited book, Global Agro-Food Trade and Standards: Challenges for Africa, published in May 2010 by Palgrave.

The research programme included fieldwork-based studies of issues of standard-setting in Northern countries and standards conformity and certification in several African countries.

It included food safety standards, fair trade standards, organic standards, labour standards and several kinds of environmental standards and labels. Products covered included tropical commodities, fresh and processed agro-foods, fish and cut flowers. Four PhD students were trained, including three Tanzanians.

Speakers
* Stefano Ponte, Senior Researcher, DIIS
* Peter Gibbon, Senior Researcher, DIIS
* Linda Fulponi, OECD

PROGRAMME

10.00-10.10
Welcome by Nanna Hvidt, Director, DIIS

10.10-10.35
Standards and Agro-Food Trade in Africa: Research and Capacity Building Activities and Outcomes of the SAFE Programme by Stefano Ponte, Senior Researcher, DIIS

10.35-11.00
Donor Interventions on Agro-Food Standards: Policy Lessons from SAFE Programme Research by Peter Gibbon, Senior Researcher, DIIS

11.00-11.15
Discussant: Linda Fulponi, OECD

11.15-11.45
Open discussion

The seminar will be held in English.

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use our online registration form on http://www.diis.dk/sw93428.asp

And do so no later than Friday, 11 June 2010 at 12.00 noon.

Please await confirmation by e-mail from DIIS for participation.

Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), The Conference Section, Strandgade 56, 1401 Kbn K, tlf. 32 69 87 51, e-mail: [email protected] og web: www.diis.dk