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Farm Sustainable Assessment is an initiative by Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform. This platform includes all food chain stakeholders willing to play an active role in the development and implementation of sustainable agricultural practices.
Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) Programme, introduced in 2014 was built on the achievements of the SPA (Sustainability Performance Assessment framework). It enables a farm’s sustainability level to be assessed and offers practical recommendations for improvement. Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) is a set of tools for food and drink businesses that want to assess, improve and validate on-farm sustainability in their supply chains.
The tools enable effective and efficient supply chain collaboration right down to the level of the farmer. Many of the world’s leading food and drink companies have begun to use it to source sustainably produced agricultural raw materials.
The Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) is an assessment questionnaire with 112 questions about farming practices categorized under 17 topics. The questions cover key pillars of sustainability, environmental, social and economics.
How FSA is beneficial to the Farmer or a Producer
Role of Mane Kancor in Sustainability Certification
Mane Kancor trains farmers in sustainable cultivation aspects right from land preparation to post harvesting by helping them in the following manner
Mane Kancor invests in a third-party independent auditor to verify the above activities and certify the farms under the principles of FSA.
The farmers, by working with Mane Kancor get their sustainable practices verified & certified, get a collective access to the world market through us and will benefit with fair prices. Training / exposure to good agricultural practices, in turn helping in regeneration of their farm soils for long term sustenance.
Intensive agricultural practices relying heavily on chemical pesticides are a major cause of widespread ecological imbalances resulting in serious problems of insecticide resistance, pest resurgence and pesticide residues.
In order to address the adverse impacts of chemical pesticides on Agro-ecosystems, Mane Kancor’s Integrated Pest Management programme has shifted from Economic Threshold Level (ETL) based approach to Agro-ecosystem analysis (AESA) based Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
In AESA based IPM Mane Kancor agronomists study the entire agro-ecosystem, plant health at different stages, built-in-compensation abilities of the plant, pest and defender population dynamics, soil conditions, climatic factors and also consider farmers’ past experience in deciding on application of chemical pesticides. Thus conserving the Agro-ecosystems. Ecological Engineering for Pest Management, a new paradigm, is gaining acceptance as a strategy for promoting Biointensive Integrated Pest Management, which relies on cultural practices to affect habitat manipulation and enhance biological control. Mane Kancor’s strategies focus on pest management both below ground and above ground. There is a rising concern about the adverse effects of chemical pesticides on human health, environment and biodiversity. Mane Kancor understands that the intensity of these negative externalities, cannot be eliminated altogether, but can be minimized through development, dissemination and promotion of sustainable biointensive approaches.
Mane Kancor’s principles of AESA based IPM to grow a healthy crop
*For example, if the dosage of nitrogenous fertilisers is high the crop becomes more succulent and therefore susceptible to insects and diseases. If the dosage is low, the crop growth is retarded. So, it is important that an adequate amount is applied for best results. Phosphatic fertilisers should not be applied every season as the residual phosphate of the previous season will be sufficient for the current season also.
In order to attract natural crop enemies Mane Kancor’s agronomists train farmers to practice the following cost effective activities