Agri-wide multisector:
SIZA audits occur throughout the agricultural sector, and the programme represents 42 different commodities. These commodities include various fruit, vegetables, dairy, meat, flower, spices, wool and other agricultural commodities. This significant acceptance throughout the value chain is a testament to the value the programme offers for producers and markets globally. This agri-wide acceptance also contributed to the number of audits increasing.
In 2022, there has been a significant increase in the number of audits for both social and environmental third-party audits. Three hundred and fifteen social audits occurred from January 2022 until 30 April 2022, compared to 210 for the same period in 2021. This shows an increase of 105 audits over these four months compared to last year. A total of 42 SIZA environmental audits took place between 1 January 2022 and 30 April 2022, compared to only one environmental audit for the same period in 2021.
Improve continuously
With the increase in audits, SIZA continues its efforts to drive continuous improvement through its hands-on approach, following up on outstanding corrective actions and assisting producers when they might require assistance with the process. Since the 1st of January 2022, 2 374 non-compliance were raised during social audits. Out of this, 1 642 have already been closed out successfully, with the remaining 732 still in the process of implementing corrective action. There have also been 181 corrective actions submitted that are currently being reviewed by the auditors.
For environmental audits, a total of 41 non-compliances were raised during this period, of which 22 have been resolved and closed successfully. The remaining corrective actions are still within the deadlines to be submitted by the producers.
