Belly Bella Fruit Company, an Armenian producer and exporter of flat peaches, flat nectarines, and plums, has completed the GLOBALG.A.P. Risk Assessment on Social Practice (GRASP), becoming the first agricultural enterprise in Armenia to do so. This milestone expands GRASP coverage in the wider South Caucasus region and marks 100 countries globally with active GRASP letters of conformance at farm level.
Workers’ health, safety, and welfare assurance with GRASP
While many traditional farm certification schemes often seek to focus on food safety and environmental topics, it does not always provide assurance that the people who grew and harvested the produce were treated fairly.
GRASP, an add-on to the GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) standard, builds on existing workers’ health, safety, and welfare topics in IFA to evaluate social responsibility across four additional areas: Workers’ voice, human and labor rights information, human and labor rights indicators, and the protection of child and young workers.
The assessment is conducted every year alongside the farm’s IFA audit by the same independent certification body. At the end of 2025, more than 118,000 producers across 99 countries were assessed, highlighting the global importance of social topics at farm level.
Transparency and consistency with GLOBALG.A.P. solutions
Armenia’s Belly Bella Fruit Company adds GRASP to a system already certified to GLOBALG.A.P. core solutions in IFA and GLOBALG.A.P. Chain of Custody (CoC).
Together, the three solutions give Belly Bella a documented record of safer and more responsible farming practices – the transparency, consistency, and control that long-term cooperation with international buyers depends on.
Commenting on the achievement, Nolan Quiros, Senior Technical Expert for GRASP at Agraya, highlighted: “We have always believed that responsible farming is about people as well as products. European buyers now too expect clear, documented proof of social practices at the farm level, and Belly Bella has embraced that expectation with conviction. By completing the GRASP assessment, they will demonstrate year after year, the same rigor and integrity they already apply to food safety, environmental protection, production processes, and traceability. This is a strong message from Armenia’s agricultural industry to international markets: Producers are ready to compete not only with quality fruit, but with responsible and transparent farming.”
Meeting new expectations from EU retailers
The timing aligns with a wider shift in how European retailers buy fresh produce. There is increasing demand for suppliers to provide documented proof of supply chain risk management and social compliance ahead of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), due for implementation in July 2029.
In the past, Armenian fruit exports have largely competed on seasonal pricing. Belly Bella’s drive to become the first GRASP assessed company marks a move towards competing through assurance, unlocking doors to opportunities in new markets in Europe and beyond.
Related links:
- Understand more about GLOBALG.A.P. Risk Assessment and Social Practice
- Learn more about long-term holistic approach to farm-level operations with GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA)
- Explore our impact areas and claims on workers’ health, safety, and welfare
