The Colombian-based DAABON Group, an early pioneer in organic palm, banana and coffee farming and production, has become the first company in the world to become certified under the RSPO NEXT scheme operated by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
RSPO NEXT, which exceeds the RSPO’s international sustainability standard, was developed “in response to the increased market commitments for no deforestation, no development on peat, no fires, and no human rights violations”.
A six-day, five-person team audit, reviewed DAABON’s four palm oil estates in Northern Colombia and included certification of the 122 smallholder farms who supply the mill, for compliance with RSPO NEXT requirements, as an add-on to the RSPO Principles and Criteria evaluation. The additional criteria (for more information visit the RSPO website at http://www.rspo.org/certification/rspo-next) are applicable at an organisation-wide level, including; investments, joint ventures, and the organisation’s wider supply base.
DAABON group’s oil palm plantation of around 9,950 hectares (ha), has been RSPO certified since 2010. DAABON began its additional RSPO NEXT auditing process in January 2017 by third party, independent, certification body, Control Union Certifications.
Manuel Julian Dávila, DAABON’s CEO, said: “This achievement reconfirms DAABON’s commitment to sustainability and RSPO. We are especially proud to be the first group globally, together with our 122 small farmers, to show that RSPO NEXT Certification is challenging, but doable, also for smallholders.”
“We are especially proud to be the first group globally, together with our 122 small farmers, to show that RSPO NEXT Certification is challenging, but doable, also for smallholders”
Datuk Darrel Webber, CEO of RSPO said, “We congratulate DAABON Group for achieving this milestone. It is a demonstration of the great momentum we are seeing from RSPO members in the Latin American palm oil market, where output of certified sustainable palm oil is growing.”
Supun Nigamuni, Program Manager RSPO at Control Union Certifications, said: “Control Union strive to help our customers demonstrate their sustainability credential through the quality and integrity of third party certification. We are glad to have had the opportunity to do this at yet a higher level via RSPO NEXT certification.”