Selecta One’s Uganda-based cutting farm earns Fairtrade certification again

STUTTGARD, Germany: The Selecta one cutting farm Wagagai Ltd. in Uganda has been successfully Fairtrade recertified. This has been decided by FLO-CERT, the leading global certification body for Fairtrade verification services, on 15 January 2018.

This decision was based on the verification of the certification through controls and audits on site by FLO-CERT. All Fairtrade standards have been fulfilled and the recertification process has been successfully completed. This means that Wagagai Ltd. remains Fairtrade certified for flowers and plants.

Selecta one Poinsettias are produced at the cutting farm Wagagai in Uganda. For Selecta one, the recertification of Wagagai Ltd. means that all Selecta one Poinsettias and Princettia® varieties can also be offered as Fairtrade young plants further on. Since 2016, Selecta one has supplied Fairtrade certified young plants to their poinsettia growers besides conventional ones. Besides improving health and safety measures, enabling freedom of association and collective bargaining the employees benefit from a Fairtrade Premium, which can be used for social projects.

Beyond that, Selecta one and its cutting farm Wagagai Ltd. launched a project with Fairtrade to improve the wages of the employees in autumn 2017. Not only for 2017, but for every coming Poinsettia season both partners will refrain from placing certification costs and marketing costs of the Poinsettias on the selling price. By adding just a few cents to the price of the fairly traded cuttings a significant bonus can be generated on the back of the volume of Fairtrade sales. The bonus flows directly into Fairtrade bonus fund for the workers.

The certification organization FLO-CERT GmbH (FLO-CERT) is responsible for the implementation of the certification (controls/audits) of all contract partners and is ISO 65 accredited according to the international quality standard for certification organizations. With this, greatest possible transparency and a high degree of international competitiveness is guaranteed. FLOCERT is an independent certification company and a subsidiary of Fairtrade International. The company certifies producers, traders and manufacturers in round 115 countries in accordance with the international Fairtrade standards.