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Article

12 Oct 2017

Author:
Eva Izquierdo, European Environmental Bureau

Report on roundtable organised by European Environmental Bureau addresses need for due diligence in supermarket supply chains

"Supply Cha!nge: Addressing due diligence in supermarket supply chains, June 20th 2017 Brussels", September 2017

Suggestions: [...][S]everal issues were covered, including a severely debated minimum living wage issue, and in particular, the ambiguity of its definition. The social justice conflict around rural food production was also mentioned. The issue concerns self-employed smallholders who are very vulnerable and they are responsible for 70% of the global food supply... Value is inequitably distributed throughout the supply chain mainly due to the weakness of existing regulations... [T]he lack of transparency concerning smallholders’ value chains is alarming. Monopoly tendencies and the structure of business as usual in agricultural supply chains - subcontracting schemes - are posing barriers to both producers and consumers. The low level of engagement by trade unions is also to be kept in mind... A remarkable achievement of the SUPPLY CHA!NGE Project hitherto has been the continuous stakeholder participation in brainstorming about the development of fairer and greener food supply chains. The core focus of the project has been on the environmental and social sustainability of supply chains. 

 The consolidation and monopolization within and among supply chains should be diminished. 

 Labour rights of the smallholder producers in the very bottom of the value chains should be improved. 

 Universal sustainability standards should be established.