A strong focus will remain on Emerging Grower development and continued support to get them compliant with the SIZA standard, labour legislation and environmental assurance requirements which includes two core processes: monitoring (self-assessment and third-party ethical audit) and capacity-building. Included in the SIZA Capacity Building programme is ongoing support for emerging growers so that they can become market ready.
A major risk to emerging growers is the inability to provide evidence of ethical compliance to buyers which serves as a barrier to trade, particularly in international markets. SIZA wants to ensure that emerging growers benchmark themselves against the laws and become compliant with the SIZA standard requirements and code of conduct. To ensure compliance and management of business in line with the scope of the SIZA compliance criteria and relevant local labour and environmental legislation, it is important to have continued support for emerging growers at the ground level.
