Swahili Translation of IFA Standard

The checklist for the GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) standard v5.2 has now been translated into Swahili, marking a milestone in standards developments in East Africa. The translation was funded by the European Union via the Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP), implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC). The Swahili translation makes the standard accessible to many smallholders in Tanzania (and to a lesser extent Kenya and Uganda) who up to now faced a huge hurdle in getting IFA certification since they do not have a sufficient level of English to consult the IFA documents. Now that smallholders can read the technical requirements of the standard in their mother tongue, they will no longer have to rely on a second party (such as agronomists or consultants) to interpret the standard. The translation gives agency to those who need it most.