Tsanga Flora obtains MPS-C, MPS GAP and MPS-SQ

We are proud to announce that Tsanga Flora, one of our partner farms in Zimbabwe, has obtained all its MPS certificates. As of June 2022 they are in possession of MPS-C, MPS-SQ and MPS GAP*. With these certificates, Tsanga Flora now aligns with the FSI 2025 basket, bringing Marginpar closer to her goal of 100% sustainable production of her flowers. 

The Tsanga Flora flower farm covers 18 hectares of cultivated area and has two production locations in Toutbeck and Juliasdale, at the foothills of Nyangani Mountain in Zimbabwe. The farm specialises in the cultivation of Astrantia Roma®, Astrantia Star of Flame® and several Eryngium Questar® varieties, with a team of about 350 people. 

Director Rob Lindsay visited the Netherlands to receive the certificates. Rob: “This is teamwork at its finest; we achieved this by working together. We were also lucky to get help from our staff at our second farm, Claremont. They already had five years of experience with the SQ certification Smeta, growing vegetables for the UK retail market.” Claremont will be producing flowers for Marginpar in the near future. You can read about it in Rob’s Recipe.

The commitment, and above all the speed, with which Tsanga Flora went through its audit process stood out to MPS. Arthij van der Veer, Area Manager at MPS: “The application for MPS ABC was submitted in January 2020, and the application for MPS SQ and MPS GAP followed in November 2021. The audit took place in May 2022, after which it took only a month for the SQ and GAP certification to be awarded. That really shows commitment.” 

* The MPS-ABC certificate is a unique world standard and works as a benchmark to show how environmentally friendly our activities are. There are three different levels, MPS-A, MPS-B and MPS-C. 
* MPS-SQ stands for 'Socially Qualified' and focuses on health and safety, and good working conditions.
* MPS GAP is a set of Good Agricultural Practice (G.A.P.) standards for safe, sustainable agriculture. The standard covers: cultivation material, soil and substrate management, fertiliser use, plant protection products, harvest and post-harvest treatments.