Countries, Institutions, and Policies
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defective or dangerous. Although traceability is legally limited to a “one step forward, one step back” principle within the European Union (with no obligation to keep records in third countries), in practice EU buyers tend to go beyond the strict legal requirement. Complete traceability throughout the chain all the way up to the overseas producers is part of many private standards such as those of the GlobalGAP. Maertens and Swinnen’s analysis shows that the European Union’s rising standards have profoundly altered the structure of the supply chain in Senegal’s horticulture sector. For instance, the financial constraints generated by the need to comply with increasingly stringent standards have induced consolidation at the intermediation stage, with only the larger firms able to cope. Between 2002 and 2005, the number of French bean exporters dropped from 27 to 20, and the market share of the three largest companies rose from less than half to two-thirds (Maertens and Swinnen 2009). Rising standards have complex implications for export survival and risk-sharing along the value chain, as the overall sector’s sustainability as a supplier to the increasingly regulated market can be obtained by shifting risk over to the producers upstream. In the case of Mali’s mango exports, for instance, complete traceability all the way up to the farmer comes with precise tracking of quality records. Farmers that are recorded to have supplied less than 60 percent of “export-grade” mangoes during a specified period are automatically tossed out of the supply chain (see box 2.2), notwithstanding the fact that every single mango shipment is screened for
Box 2.2
A Malian Mango’s “Soldier’s Run” In order to reach EU markets, a mango must be patient, tough, and spotless. The run starts with a manual sorting that eliminates fruits with visible defects and those that have lost their peduncle, which would allow moisture to infiltrate them. Those fruits that survive the first sorting are immersed for 5 minutes in a 50o pool in order to eliminate insects and anthracnose risk. A second, 2-minute immersion in prochlorase—a bacteria-killing detergent—further reduces infection risk. After drying, a new round of selection eliminates all fruits bearing any trace of cochineal. Cochineal contact involves no health risk for consumers, but traces might possibly put them off, and the retailers will take no chances. The second round of selection (continued next page)