- PS1: Environmental, Health and Safety, and Social (ESHS) Assessment and Management Systems
Bioparques is generally an ESHS conscious organization, and its investment decisions take into account the positive relationship between resource sustainability together with the financial rate of return for agro-industrial operations. The company maintains full compliance with Mexican Law and regulations. ESHS management at the company takes place without benefit of a formal ESHS management system. The company agrees that it needs to upgrade their management system to formalize and include social and environmental affairs, quality, human resources, and occupational health and safety issues associated with greenhouse production, biodiversity issues, transport, and processing operations. In accordance with the attached Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP), Bioparques will implement an integrated environmental and social management system (ESMS) covering all relevant aspects of IFC’s performance standards. This ESMS will provide a structured framework to consistently identify risks and opportunities in the management of its environmental and social responsibilities at its existing operations and future expansions. Observation of field and greenhouse operations, including chemicals application, demonstrates that skill and safety training is an integral part of the company culture.
- PS2: Labor and Working Conditions
All employment relationships are in compliance with Mexican national labour law. There are no contractors or suppliers of fresh produce. Bioparques strives to be a non-discriminatory and equal opportunity business enterprise. The appointed Environmental and Social Manager is a handicapped person. The company provides PPE and safety training to all workers (full time and seasonal). OHS issues are managed at the farm and greenhouse level. The company uses transparent human resources procedures. During the induction period, besides technical and hygiene procedures, all compensation and benefits are fully explained to employees. Salaries paid in the greenhouse operations are on average twice the minimum wage, which is above agricultural labour compensation standards for the industry. There is freedom of association, and an informal grievance mechanism is in place to address grievances. Social projects supported by Bioparques include day care centers; schools legally registered in the Mexican educational system with qualified teachers; health care units with medical doctors, nurse and social worker; rural homes with sanitary facilities for worker and their families; social security; potable drinking water, etc. Bioparques will develop its new human resources policy in accordance to Mexico labour laws and regulations and IFC standards. As part of the development of a fully integrated ESMS, Bioparques will further formalize and disseminate a grievance process.
Protecting the workforce:
The field visit identified that Bioparques employs individuals of 14-16 years of age performing non-dangerous seedling development and grafting greenhouse operations, as it is allowed by Article 173 of the Mexican Labour Law. Local government and civil society associations report that in such rural areas, employment opportunities have a clear positive effect in reducing poverty. According to the law, school attendance by these workers and shorter shifts are required. Such requirements are observed by Bioparques in compliance with Mexican labour law. The company will implement an auditable monitoring plan in all their operations to ensure no cases of non-compliance with ILO Conventions 138 on Minimum Age, and 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labour. The company will also develop a plan, to be approved IFC, to ensure implementation of an innovative schooling and continuing education programme provided by the company for their employees.
The company will be required to install state-of-the-art fire equipment and fire safety standards in all their greenhouse and packing operations. In addition, a fire drill will be conducted twice per annum. A quality control plan will be implemented by Bioparques to ensure that all fire equipment will function properly in case of fire.
- PS3: Pollution Prevention and Abatement
Main sources of emissions include generators, liquid effluents from the greenhouses and process operations; sanitary discharge, and solid waste from the agricultural operations and processing. The greenhouse operations are connected to national electric energy grids, but have two back up diesel emergency generators (Cummins 230 KVA and Caterpillar 343KVA) that according to the company are only used on emergency basis. Up to October 2007 these have been used only 12 hours, a reduction from last year use of 200 hours in total. Electricity consumption during 2006/2007 has been 3,315,008 KW (2,095 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent).
Pesticide use and management:
Field and greenhouse operations include common practices for the production of tomatoes. Yet, the company recognizes the need of developing an innovation system for knowledge exchange that will help create knowledge-based value, and ensure an adequate technology acquisition and adaptation process to improve their business model. Pesticides are used according to appropriate standard procedures for applications, and cholinesterase analysis is regularly done on Bioparques employees applying pesticides. The company aims to benefit from the growing demand in the US market for a consistent year round supply of high quality pesticide-free tomatoes. Direct observation confirmed that application procedures, worker PPE, safety practices, and washing and disposal of insecticide containers are carried out in conformance with Mexican requirements and international safety standards. The company will further upgrade its integrated pest and disease management system through research and technology acquisition to formalize and create guidelines and procedures to reduce pesticide use, especially current use of carbamate and organophosphorus compounds, and introduce biological control, crop management practices, monitoring of pest/disease incidence, and insect/disease ecology-related issues, as components of their pest and disease management strategy.
Bioparques’s goal is to improve their business is to ensure that world-class sustainable agricultural management practices and technologies acquired through a knowledge exchange system, which includes environmental and social aspects, are equally applied to all their greenhouse operations. The company will develop a plan to achieve this goal. The company will collect and submit data on integrated pest and disease control programs, detailed analysis of agrochemical use and management, use of PPE, storing and recycling of agrochemicals and packages, level of training on agrochemical use, triple washing of containers, improvements in social issues, occupational health and safety, improved quality assessment and product monitoring, and waste management practices. Bioparques will include an account in the implementation of the plan in each annual report presented to IFC (AMR).
Effluents:
These include greenhouse and process liquid effluents; storm water, sanitary wastewater; and solid wastes emanating from processing of tomatoes. Bioparques has not implemented effluent treatment procedures. Sanitary waste is placed on a sanitary pit, yet there are no procedures for final disposal of organic waste. The company will conduct a full chemical/physical/ microbiological assessment of all effluents in all their greenhouse facilities, including the sanitary effluent discharge. If measurements exceed IFC limits, Bioparques will propose corrective measures, and agree with IFC on a schedule to comply with IFC guideline requirements. The company will also develop a plan to ensure proper handling of the sanitary waste. The assessment shall include measuring the different soil nutrients lost in the liquid effluent emanating from the greenhouses.
- PS4: Community Health, Safety and Security
Besides their own housing facilities, Bioparques does not have any communities immediately near its greenhouse operations. The nearest neighbourhood is San Miguel Jalisco, a small settlement some 3.0 kilometers away. Therefore, there have not been any known community complaints to date. The company however lacks a formal community grievance system. The company will develop a basic formal system for this, and will ensure it is clearly communicated by posting on the company website and included in relevant written public communications. The company will provide information to IFC showing that Emergency Planning and Response plans (EPR) are consistent with Mexican legal requirements.
Soldiers of the Mexican army are present in the Bioparques facilities in Jalisco as part of their government duties. The soldiers, who are armed, conduct strict security checks on each passenger arriving in the company airplane. So far no incidents have been reported.
- PS5: Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement
According to legal documents presented by the company, all their land acquisitions or rentals are done within a willing buyer-willing seller framework.
- PS6: Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Natural Resource Management
Natural or critical habitat or endangered species:
There are no legally protected areas in the vicinity of Bioparques. The company operations do not involve modification, conversion, or degradation of any critical habitats.
Sustainable water resource use:
Bioparques’s key business risk is sustaining an adequate level of quality tomato production, which in turn depends on the appropriate long term use of the groundwater resource at premium in the Jalisco areas where the company operates. Currently, the company uses a semi-hydroponic system in their operations and irrigation water (where soil nutrients are applied), is not recycled. It is rather discharged as liquid effluent with consequent loss of valuable groundwater resources as well as loss of expensive soil nutrients.
All investments in securing appropriate management of water as a natural resource will ensure the sustainability of the tomato business in the long term, and Bioparques has proposed to implement a three element program to balance their uptake and replenishment of groundwater:
- upkeep of their wells;
- use of some form of sprinkler irrigation in all their greenhouse operations; and
- recycling of water in their greenhouse operations to develop a full hydroponic production procedure.
Some of the elements (a and b) have already been implement. The water recycling systems are planned to be implemented in a phased fashion over the next years starting in 2008, and the three element program will be implemented in full by December 2010.
To ensure the sustainability of the tomato business, in accordance to the ESAP, Bioparques will:
- Implement, in a phased fashion, a system to recycle water in all the company greenhouse operations by December 2010;
- Conduct a hydrogeological survey to assess the probability of developing large capacity deep wells to support the water need estimates for the irrigation in their greenhouse operation;
- Present a sustainable groundwater management and implementation plan, based on the three element program, for IFC’s approval (must include planning, chronogram for investments, monitoring and audits, etc.);
- Install remote control computer-based groundwater level monitoring tools in all wells.
