RECONFIGURING THE OIL PALM CHAIN: THE RSPO IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO

Marie-Christine Renard

Todos os Trabalhos

Trabalho

DOI

10.29327/9786527226680.1439137

Título do Trabalho

RECONFIGURING THE OIL PALM CHAIN: THE RSPO IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO

Autores

Marie-Christine Renard

Modalidade

IRSA - Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (01/10/2025 a 20/01/2026)

Área temática

IRSA 04 - Commodity Systems in the Anthropocene

Data de Publicação

06/08/2026

País da Publicação

Brasil

Idioma da Publicação

pt-BR

Página do Trabalho

https://www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1439137-reconfiguring-the-oil-palm-chain--the-rspo-in-chiapas-mexico

ISBN

978-65-272-2668-0

Palavras-Chave

Palm oil, certification, RSPO, Chiapas Mexico.

Resumo

The restructuring of agri-food chains in the post-Fordist era has had significant impacts on small-scale farmers, who are the first link in these chains. They are subject to systems of rules and standards imposed by buyers, whether these are industries or distribution actors. They have no participation in the development of these systems of standards, yet they are forced to bear their costs to be certified. It is important to understand the interconnections in agri-food chains governed by these systems. In buyer driven chains, dominant players define and manage quality and set the rules of inclusion/exclusion. The case of the oil palm chain and the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is a good example. In this paper, we demonstrate that the adoption and imposition of the RSPO certification by the agribusiness corporations responds to instrumental (increase competitivity) and relational (to seek legitimacy) reasons. The research shows that a media campaign of Greenpeace against Nestlé in 2010 originating from the deforestation of rainforests in Asia has repercussions for oil palm producers in Chiapas, state of southern Mexico. In this region, oil palm cultivation was heavily promoted by the government from the 1990s onwards in wetland areas at the Coast and in Lacandon jungle. Oil palm cultivation has spread because it is the most profitable and resistant of all crops; it expanded mainly over areas previously dedicated to other crops and livestock. In this context came the demand from corporations, the end consumers of palm oil, for their suppliers to be RSPO certified, which implies certifying all actors downstream the chain; for agricultural producers, it represents more work and costs without them seeing clearly the reason for it. If they don't accept, in a few years they won't be able to sell their product.

Título do Evento: 16th World Congress of Rural Sociology and 64th Congress of the Brazilian Society of Rural Economics, Management and Sociology
Cidade do Evento: Porto Alegre
Título dos Anais do Evento: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA)
Nome da Editora: Even3
Meio de Divulgação: Meio Digital
DOI

Como citar

RENARD, Marie-Christine. RECONFIGURING THE OIL PALM CHAIN: THE RSPO IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO.. In: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA). Anais...Porto Alegre(RS) UFRGS, 2026. Disponível em: https//www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1439137-RECONFIGURING-THE-OIL-PALM-CHAIN--THE-RSPO-IN-CHIAPAS-MEXICO. Acesso em: 16/09/2026