Basic Guidelines for Sustainable Cocoa Colombia - Cocoa sector
Offering small-scale cocoa farmers global recognition for their sustainability practices
The Basic Guidelines for Sustainable Cocoa, or LBCS for the Spanish acronym, is a tool developed by ITC and Swisscontact, thanks to funding from the Swiss government (SECO).
LBCS allows users to start their journey towards improved sustainability by focusing on fundamental requirements.
LBCS is linked to the open (www.sustainabilitymap.org) platform and is accessible to any person or organization. This facilitates direct users and other important stakeholders such as buyers, cooperation agencies, and public institutions to obtain relevant information
While its use is public and free, the LBCS tool has especially targeted small cocoa producers that are members of cooperatives or associations whom require new management and communication means to improve their competitiveness in a context of sustainability.
The tool was designed to help small cocoa producers and their cooperatives in Colombia’s rural regions understand and comply with international sustainability criteria, as well as connect with potential buyers through the Sustainability Network of buyers and producers of cocoa accessible in the online version of the LBCS tool.
LBCS basic sustainability criteria seek to prepare cooperatives, and their associated producers, for better performance by improving their productive and organizational structure under the following principles:
- Strengthening of internal relationships through joint planning processes.
- Incorporation of fair trade principles.
- Implementation of good agricultural practices through investments, low impact inputs, and promotion of self-sufficiency and better productivity according to local conditions.
- Improvement of quality as a stimulus mechanism to enter sophisticated markets.
- Capacities and basic processes for quality assurance implementations.
- Visibility of associations and producers in their first steps towards sustainability.
- Are you a cocoa producer or a cooperative/association of cocoa producers?
- Would you like to measure your level of compliance with the “Basic Requirements for Sustainable Cocoa Production – LBCS”?
Please carry out a self-assessment by clicking on one of the guidelines to access the online questionnaires, answer it and generate your compliance report.
The LBCS Colombia Network comprises all the companies, cooperatives and institutions that implement the LBCS or facilitate the implementation of the LBCS under a project framework or as an institutional service. All these actors seek to support cocoa companies, cooperatives and producers to implement sustainable practices in cocoa and chocolate production and trade operations.
New user?
Please create your account on the Sustainability Map online platform (www.sustainabilitymap.org) and indicate in your profile that you want to be part of the LBCS Colombia network. answer it and generate your compliance report.
Registered user?
If you have already started the self-assessment, log in to the Sustainability Map and access the questionnaire through your profile on the platform.
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