VerifiK8 supports the improvement of farming practices by creating an opportunity for farms to be certified by world-renowned compliance certifications such as ASC. By gathering data from different production sites, VerifiK8 is able to confront the actual production with the expected standards. This process allows to flag compliance gaps and helps to draw action plans for farmers.

 

On this matter, ASC and VerifiK8 first collaborated in Vietnam in 2019 with shrimp farming cooperatives in the Mekong delta. The second iteration of VerifiK8 tool was deployed in Thailand to implement a full digitized gap analysis and risk assessment against ASC in a post-covid context. To do so, VerifiK8 invited Thai Union, leader in Thai seafood industry and which has previously partnered on earlier stage pilots with VerifiK8, to nominate 3 farms to get involved in the project. Thai Union’s year plan toward ASC certified farms benefited from using VerifiK8 tools with pre or post certification data by flagging risks areas and ensuring farms can effectively achieve their goal smoothly. In addition, this collaboration was used to reach out to global seafood customers in order to reflect the strong leadership of Thai Union in responsible aquaculture operations, while ISEAL - sustainability standards alliance - monitored emerging innovations for credibility assurance. 

 

VerifiK8 offered a data collection platform, fully aligned with ASC certification and captured its performance (pre- and post-certification) by identifying potential compliance gaps towards the standard. From this collaboration with Thai Union farms, the objectives were: 

1. Collecting ASC data points, using VerifiK8 Application; 

2. Mapping of potential compliance gaps to prepare farms for certification; 

3. Tailoring capacity building on the basis of risk mapping.

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This project allowed VerifiK8 to replicate this threefold scheme with its partners : 

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Engage

• Include farmers into a dynamic of compliance

• Enforce sustainability standards throughout all the production chain

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Monitor

• Input data by the farmers

• Produce farm-level compliance reports with VerifiK8 algorithm

Report

• Analyze gaps between standards and actual production : 41% of the “compliant-declared production” was actually compliant after our analysis

• Build action plans to meet compliance standards

• 17 Vietnamese farms ASC-certified at the end of the project

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