This work presents a qualitative study conducted in Colombia in the dairy regions of “Antioquia and the coffee corridor” and “región Cundi-boyacense”, focusing on the factors affecting the adoption of the Colombian public standard of best agricultural practices for dairy cattle, ICA-BPG (Buenas Prácticas Ganaderas del Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario ICA). The International Trade Centre ITC currently reports more than 200 private standards worldwide related to sustainable agriculture. Southern countries in an effort to provide more “legitimate“ and flexible alternatives have built certification schemes tailor-made to their own food safety, public health standards and policies (Farina, Gutman, Lavarello, Nunes, & Reardon, 2005; Mamine, 2016; Schouten & Bitzer, 2015). Colombia has likewise developed its own best agricultural practice standards for dairy cattle, managed by the Colombian Agricultural Institute ICA, ICA-BPG, in an effort to strengthen the sustainability of the national milk production. Colombia has 494.402 cattle farms between beef and dairy, with most being double-purpose, but only 642 (0.13%) are ICA-BPG certified for dairy and 134 (0.03%) with beef certification, from the time when the law was enacted in 2008[1] to this day (2016). Considering this low rate of adoption, it is important to gather information on the factors affecting the farmers’ decision-making towards the standards, particularly for small and medium dairy farms, to understand their motivations, concerns and needs in order to reach a successful implementation of the norm.
Supported by interviews and visits to both certified and uncertified farms, this multiple case study identified factors affecting the adoption or rejection of the standard implementation. Additionally, it builds the validity of the multiple case study through cross-case analysis and contrasting this with evidence and comparing with factors found in the literature such as certification costs, market demand, land tenure, technical assistance and knowledge (Borges, Oude Lansink, Marques Ribeiro, & Lutke, 2014; Rodriguez, Molnar, Fazio, Sydnor, & Lowe, 2009). The factors identified in Colombia were classified for analysis as economic, institutional and personal: the first refer to the certification bonus in the price of milk, the certification costs, the land tenure and the inputs market; institutional factors identified include technical assistance, rural education, associations, relevance of standards, the audit approach and infrastructure; and finally, personal factors include interest in environmental conservation, resistance to change and other farmers’ attitudes. The ICA-BPG standard initiative is important for the sustainability of a polluting activity such as dairy farming in Colombia, and according to the findings of this study, incentives that are meaningful for farmers need to be strengthened in order to increase the level of adoption that this certification currently has.
Keywords: Standards, dairy certification, Colombia, adoption
[1] Resolution 3585 (20th October 2008)
