BioFuels Journal

Geneva - 1 November 2016 - SOCICANA - Associação dos Fornecedores de Cana de Guariba, a sugar cane producers association based in Guariba, São Paulo, Brazil has earned the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) certification.

The RSB certification was part of the "Cana Sustentável" (Sustainable Cane) project developed with support from RSB and the Boeing Corporate Citizenship program.

The RSB certification included a group of 17 farmers, covering 466.62 hectares of production area.

Through this project, Socicana and RSB were able to provide a comprehensive framework toimplement sustainability objectives and customer demands, improve Socicana procedures, recognize, through RSB certification, the good practices carried out by the farmers, and reinforce the importance of RSB as a tool to "translate" the objectives of sustainable development into practices adopted by all operators along the supply chains, including smallholders and family farmers.

"We are excited to work with Socicana on this important project within the RSB smallholder program which aims to improve the living conditions of small farmers and promote sustainable practices," said Rolf Hogan, RSB's Executive Director.

"This was a great opportunity for us to identify the needs and opportunities for small sugarcane producers and promote better management of rural property which leads to better partnerships for smallholder participation in sustainable production chains."

"This initiative impacted the behavior of our associates, and producers saw that it is possible to produce sugarcane sustainably," said José Guilherme Nogueira, the Superintendent of Socicana.

"The participation of RSB in the process was essential, since before our partnership Socicana had no certification protocol aimed at small producers.

"The team of RSB experts spared no effort to provide guidance and assistance to the Socicana team and thus implement the standards with producers."

"Our intention is to bring more sugarcane producers interested in certification and have our associates producing according to international protocols," said Bruno Rangel Geraldo Martins, Chairman of Socicana.

"We have observed that the farmers are changing their minds and improving their practices, so we have a fundamental role to help them get recognized and certified."

This second RSB certification of sugar cane farmers in Brazil (the first was the Assobari certification in September 2016) was made possible by the Boeing Corporate Citizenship Program, which is supporting the certification of smallholder farmers in Brazil and South Africa in order to promote sustainability and improve the livelihoods of farmers by linking them to markets.

For more information, please contact Rolf HOgan at +41-22-7964037 or rolf.hogen@rsb.org

See Related Websites/Articles:

• Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials

more ADVANCED BIOFUELS...