PAN UK - Food and Fairness


Young men from Fotobi, Ghana, proud to have returned to their village from poorlypaid work in the city to earn a living growing pineapples for export.

Ghanaian smallholders interviewed in 2001 for PAN UK’s research on patterns of pesticide dependency were enthusiastic about the decent income to be made from pineapple for export. They maintained a diverse farming enterprise by growing cassava and maize for domestic consumption and local markets. But they expressed serious concern about their future in farming, due to the many problems they faced as independent smallholders in an export market dominated by big companies and doubts about what European consumers wanted in terms of fruit quality and production methods. They had heard about organic food and its increasing market demand but did not know how to produce pineapple without the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilisers. One man asked "If Europeans don't want pesticides in their fruit, why do European companies send all these pesticide products to African farmers in the first place?"

There is a dilemma between European market demands, consumer concerns and the future for African small-scale farmers growing crops for export. Food quality controls include legal limits on the amount of pesticides permitted in fresh produce, as well as private quality standards of supermarkets and their purchasing practices. As pesticide residue limits have become much stricter, they could threaten the livelihoods of millions of farmers and farm workers if they, or the export companies they supply, cannot comply with these standards. In an increasingly globalised food chain, importers and supermarkets can simply turn elsewhere to source their produce, with devastating consequences for the estimated 45 million people, mainly women, in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries who earn their living from the export horticulture sector.

This dilemma is not just a problem for poor farmers in developing countries. One Dutch supermarket recently responded to media campaigns over pesticide residues by cutting off relations with 600 small-scale grape growers in Greece and shifting to a single, large scale supplier. Is there a future for small-scale farmers in Europe and Africa or will the retailers which dominate our food supply exclude them in the quest to reassure consumers' concerns about food safety?

Objectives of Food & Fairness

PAN UK’s Food & Fairness project aims to generate support for safer and more sustainable farming systems that enhance the livelihoods of African women and men farmers and supply the quality of food that consumers demand. Our objectives are to:

Use food safety concerns in Europe to raise awareness of the negative impacts of pesticide dependency on the health, environment and livelihoods of African farmers and farm workers
Create public and consumer awareness of food safety changes that could limit access of small-scale farmers to European markets
Encourage supermarkets, food companies and importers to support safe and sustainable pest management solutions for smallholders as part of their corporate social responsibility practices
Facilitate dialogue between food and farming sectors, consumers, development NGOs and donors in Europe and government and agricultural sectors in Africa to deliver sustainable crop management options for small-scale farmers

Project partners

PAN Africa will look at export market access for Senegalese smallholders and quality compliance issues and provide a channel for farmer concerns to reach food companies, consumers and donors in Europe. PAN Germany is working with African NGOs via on-line information service for alternatives to pesticides for tropical crops (OISAT); and Dutch environmental NGO Natuur & Milieu promotes Integrated Pest and Crop Management strategies and campaigns for supermarkets and farmers to reduce their use of hazardous pesticides. The PAN Europe network involves dozens of groups working on food and farming issues.

The project draws on expert, informal advice from a range of academics, private companies and practitioners in the food sector in Europe. An 11 member advisory group for the activities in Senegal has been set up with representatives from horticulture farmers, export companies, academics, government extension staff and the Ministry of Agriculture. The project also welcomes inputs and feedback from organisations not formally involved in Food & Fairness activities.

Farmers producing vegetables for the local market in Benin, like this one near Cotonou, may spray crops every 3 days, right up to harvest. They use highly toxic pesticides, often not authorised for fresh produce. Many organizations are working to improve food safety and quality of African crops for export but are they ignoring the serious food safety and pesticide health issues for African consumers and farmers in local markets?

We will later compare the attitude and actions of different companies in practical support for farmers to shift to safer pest management and brief African stakeholders on the health and environmental concerns of the hundreds of hazardous pesticides still authorised for use in Europe.

Dialogue exchange in Europe and Africa with food chain players will explore best practice and how to encourage this more widely. Special reports and case studies on promoting safe and sustainable production by smallholders in fruit, vegetable and beverage crops will be compiled and disseminated. Our African partners are exploring strategies for raising local consumer awareness of pesticide hazards in food production and stimulating demand for organic and ecologically-based alternative produce.

These web pages will be updated regularly to share information from the activities and project publications.

For more information, contact the project coordinator, Stephanie Williamson, at PAN UK. Email stephaniewilliamson@pan-uk.org

The Food & Fairness project is kindly supported by the Development Directorate of the European Commission, the Rowan Trust, the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation and NOVIB.