Fairtrade International has urged the European Union to address concerns that its upcoming anti-deforestation law will harm small producers.
The organisation, whose work focuses on improving farmers’ livelihoods, argued more financial support and clarification were needed from the European Commission in order for coffee and cocoa producers to meet the 30 December 2024 deadline.
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) will apply to companies trading so-called ‘at risk’ commodities like cocoa, coffee, palm oil, cattle and soy.
The law will come into force at the end of the year and will apply to all businesses trading either in or out of the bloc, which will affect an array of British businesses who sell to the EU or whose imports pass through the continent.
They will need to show their products are not linked to deforested land or illegal harvesting and trade by providing specific data including geolocation and satellite imagery.
But Fairtrade said it was “very concerned” that some producers would be “cut off from trade with the EU market or pushed out of supply chains by larger producers not because they farm on deforested land, but because they face challenges in collecting, managing, and submitting the necessary data”.
It called on the commission to “address the regulation’s shortcomings and help the millions of small-scale farmers at risk”, including providing an assessment of the EUDR’s expected impact on small-scale farmers and their ability to comply with the regulation, the administrative burden, and the compliance costs.
The global organisation also asked lawmakers to develop a “coherent framework strategy for supply-side partnerships with producer countries” that allow smallholders to voice their concerns and are linked to economic and trade incentives.
The EU should also provide market incentives and funding to assist small-scale farmers in complying with EUDR requirements, it argued, as “farmers should not have to bear the compliance costs linked to laws imposed by the EU”.
Traders have warned that the regulation is already pushing up prices on delivery contracts in the EU as buyers are trying to stock up on goods that are easily stored, like coffee and cocoa beans, to try to avoid uncertainty later in the year.
More clarification on how the law will actually be applied was also needed, Fairtrade said, including defining key terms and how the requirements will be enforced, explaining the rules on the traceability requirements across supply chains, and specifying the criteria used to verify compliance.
The EUDR’s ‘frequently asked questions’ have not been updated since December 2023, it noted.
Read more: The deforestation regulation clock is ticking for food and drink
Fairtrade is not the only group to voice concerns over lack of information coming from Brussels with just under five months to go before companies face serious fines if they are not compliant.
“The more information producers have, the easier it is for them to adapt and work to meet the new requirements,” its statement said.
Fairtrade is supporting its vast global network of producers as they gear up for EUDR, which has been described as one of the largest shake-ups to global supply chains in decades.
It updated its Cocoa and Coffee Standards, which require Fairtrade-certified producers to strengthen their deforestation prevention, monitoring and mitigation, so they align with EUDR requirements.
This includes that farms above four hectares in size or in high-risk areas must use polygon mapping, while smaller farms and farms in low-risk areas can use single geolocation points.
The group is partnering with tech firm Satelligence to help co-operatives across big producer countries in Africa collect the right geolocation data on their members’ farms and their deforestation risks.
Satelligence’s platform verifies the data and then detects any deforestation activity within members’ boundaries and also flags deforestation near the farm.
The system then generates reports that co-operatives can use themselves and provide to their customers or potential customers.
Despite work on the ground to make sure farmers are prepared, the EUDR is being met with fierce backlash from Europe’s agriculture lobby.
Several agriculture ministers and trade bodies in the bloc have called for a delay to the December deadline, citing unpreparedness among European companies and big producer countries, and warning of the costs to their networks of smallholders.
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