Lidar com a COVID-19: Certificação contribui com resiliência de agricultores

The document examines the role of voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) in supporting smallholder farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic. While VSSs generally do not protect farmers from global price volatility or asymmetric power dynamics, they can enhance resilience through higher prices/premiums, stronger buyer-producer relationships, market diversification, and better access to training. The study analyzes six sectors: rice in Cambodia, cotton in India, avocado in Colombia, banana in Guatemala, cashew in Guinea-Bissau, and coffee in Rwanda. It concludes that governments should complement VSSs with policies such as minimum producer prices, expanded social protection, and incentives for sustainable consumption to further build farmer resilience.

• Compliance with VSSs can improve farmer resilience by providing higher prices and premiums, which increases the capacity for investment and adaptation. In India, organic and extra-long staple cotton markets continued to secure premiums despite the pandemic, and Cambodian organic rice producers maintained premium pricing.
• VSSs often foster more supportive relationships between buyers and producers, facilitating faster recovery from shocks. Examples include an Indian cotton buyer securing special licenses to deliver inputs during lockdowns and organic cashew producers in Guinea-Bissau resuming sales more quickly due to buyer guidance on hygiene and spacing.
• VSS certification can expand market options and reduce competition for producers in emerging markets. In Guatemala, VSS-compliant producers accessed international markets and were less affected than those relying on national markets; in Cambodia and Guinea-Bissau, certified farmers faced less competition due to low numbers of certified producers.
• Farmers compliant with VSSs were better equipped to handle COVID-19 health protocols because they were already accustomed to a culture of standards, training, and protocol compliance.
• VSSs have significant limitations: they do not fully buffer against international commodity price volatility, nor do they grant farmers bargaining power in buyer-led supply chains. In India, some VSS-compliant cotton prices fell below the government minimum, and in Cambodia, membership in a cooperative was found to be more critical for contract stability than VSS compliance itself.
• The benefits of VSSs may diminish as supply increases and competition grows, unless there is a corresponding increase in market demand, as noted in the cases of Guinea-Bissau and Cambodia.

APA

Elder, S. (2021). Lidar com a COVID-19: Certificação contribui com resiliência de agricultores. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-05/covid-19-certification-farmer-resilience-pt.pdf

Chicago

Elder, Sara. Lidar com a COVID-19: Certificação contribui com resiliência de agricultores. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2021. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-05/covid-19-certification-farmer-resilience-pt.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Elder |first1=Sara |title=Lidar com a COVID-19: Certificação contribui com resiliência de agricultores |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=April 2021 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-05/covid-19-certification-farmer-resilience-pt.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{elder2021lidar, author = {Elder, Sara}, title = {{Lidar com a COVID-19: Certificação contribui com resiliência de agricultores}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2021}, month = apr, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-05/covid-19-certification-farmer-resilience-pt.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }