Pedro Acuña, Agronomist and MBA, Executive Director of Chileprunes
In 2022, the Association of Processors and Exporters of Prunes of Chile (Chileprunes) kicked off the development of a new sustainability standard for the prunes industry. Responding to new trends in international markets, this project involves the development and implementation of a standard that will be widely acknowledged by industry stakeholders. The goal is for a team of specialists and technicians to produce the aforementioned standard within a time frame of 28 months. In parallel, an audit and a training process will be held for companies throughout Chile.
Institutional Cooperation and Systematization
Among the most crucial factors in the success of this project is the creation of public-private collaboration networks. Another key factor is the participation of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), which has fostered a dynamic of systematized coordination. In particular, the Institute has enhanced cooperation between stakeholders by organizing assembly-style interactions with innovative and participatory work methodologies.
Several actions and arrangements are currently being made to get the project underway. None of them would be possible without the encouragement and support of the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation (FIA) under the Ministry of Agriculture of Chile. It also should be noted that both the Agency of Sustainability and Climate Change (ASCC), which depends on the Ministry of Economy, and the Office of Agrarian Studies and Policies (ODEPA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, have provided key support on the execution of this initiative. As official bodies, they have contributed with their experience and knowledge in the development of standards for other industries.
Stages of a Highly Participatory Design
The development of the standard by means of an interactive meeting method is expected to take 28 months. In addition to the main purpose of this process, we are also committed to cultivating a participatory dynamic each step of the way. Hence, the first stage of the project is a sectoral diagnosis, in which the industry’s companies will be identified and characterized, the various actors will be mapped and the main stakeholders will be identified.
After the diagnosis, we will conduct a comparative analysis of similar standards at the national and international levels to serve as a benchmark for the development of a list of good practices consistent with the local reality, which will subsequently be incorporated into the standard.
In order to identify the main technical gaps of the companies in the industry, an audit process will be conducted over a period of four months. These gaps will be addressed during the third stage of the project: a training process wherein technical material will be made available to all companies nationwide that wish to subscribe to the standard.
The project has now been underway for six months. In this time, we have begun the diagnosis of the sector and identified a total of 635 actors. In addition, we have defined the topics and dimensions that the standard will address, which cover the environmental, social, ethical, qualitative and management fields.
Each aspect included in the standard was validated and prioritized by the main stakeholders as a part of the process of benchmarking against national and international standards. Based on the analysis carried out thus far, we can safely affirm that this venture is the first of its kind for the prunes industry globally.
The core of these innovations is the goal of reaching all companies in the industry nationwide, since the material generated by the project will be made available as a public good to all actors involved in Chile’s agricultural field.
On completion of the validation and training process for companies, the standard will obtain the Chile Conscious Origin distinction. This certificate is expected to be validated internationally and be included in the Standards Map platform.
This project, which is dependent on the International Trade Center (ITC) and the United Nations, not only identifies, compares and supervises different sustainability standards at the international level, but also enables different actors to make informed decisions. Promoting and boosting the visibility of the standard worldwide will helps us gain a better understanding of the landscape with regard to sustainability initiatives and connect with like-minded business partners.
