Training on Rainforest Alliance certification program implementation guide 2020

On 13-15 February 2023, the GIZ/CRAS project collaborated with the Center for Rural Economy Development (CRED) organized the training course on “Rainforest Alliance Certification Program Implementation Guide 2020” for more than 25 participants, including project partner representatives from Detech Coffee, Minh Tien and Phuc Sinh company, and participants who are coffee, pepper, coconut producers from Son La, Ben Tre, Ho Chi Minh city. The training course was conducted by Mr. Nguyen Van Thiet – Country Director of Rainforest Alliance and his associates.

The Rainforest Alliance (RA) is an international non-profit organization working at the intersection of business, agriculture, and forests to make responsible business the new normal. The certification program is part of the Rainforest Alliance’s strategy to drive sustainability at scale in the sectors with 6 Sustainable Agriculture Standards, including (i) Management, (ii) Traceability, (iii) Income and Shared responsibility, (iv) Farming, (v) Social, and (iv) Environment. To find out more about RA and their certification program, please visit its website at: https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/.

Participating in the training course, trainees had the opportunity to be equipped with 6 standards and related requirements in the 2020 RA Certification Program, as well as raise awareness about the importance of compliance with sustainable agricultural standards in production, thereby, being able to apply, adjust their cultivation practices and supply chain management system according to RA regulation and requirement.

According to Mr. Ta Xuan Truong, Technical Director of Detech Coffee, this training course provided a knowledge base on RA standard requirements and certification for key staff of Detech. It is the basis for Detech to decide to associate with coffee farmers in Son La who are determined to apply RA standards as well as ensure sustainable coffee farming adapting to climate change with the desire to be RA-certified coffee products, contributing to changing their lives and ecological environment protection towards sustainable development.

“During the 3 days of training, with the understanding of sustainable agriculture standards, especially the integrated pest management (IPM) practices, I can guide and spread to coffee farmers the sustainable coffee farming practices according to RA standards in agroforestry models." - Ms. Do Lan Huong, the representative of Development Co., Ltd shared after the course.

-----------------------------------

The RA training course lies under the “Strengthening the resilience of poor population groups to climate change in selected ASEAN states, taking special account of the impact of COVID-19 in Cambodia and Viet Nam” (CRAS) project commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, works with Cambodia and Vietnam.