MPS certification: what MPS-ABC, MPS-GAP and MPS-SQ each mean on a Kenyan grower's letterhead

MPS-ABC: a score, not a pass

MPS-ABC is described by MPS as a management tool that helps companies reduce environmental impact on crop protection agents, fertilisers, energy, water and waste. The participating grower records its use of those five inputs either in real time or once per four-week period. After thirteen consecutive recording periods the company is audited and MPS-ECAS, the independent certification body, issues the certificate.

The result is a qualification, recalculated once per quarter, out of 110 points:

Source: MPS, MPS-ABC service page, read 26 September 2026.

What that means for a buyer. "MPS certified" without a letter is not a statement. MPS-A and MPS-C are both participants; they are not the same environmental record. Ask which letter, and as at which quarter.

MPS-GAP: the entry certificate, and it requires ABC

MPS describes MPS-GAP as an entry certificate that allows deliveries to be made to international retailers, covering traceability, environment, crop protection agents and recall procedures. To obtain it a company must be an MPS-ABC participant with a valid MPS-ABC qualification. MPS states that MPS-GAP is benchmarked against GLOBALG.A.P. and meets the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative's requirements; it does not describe the two as equivalent, and neither do we. What GLOBALG.A.P.'s own flowers standard covers →

MPS-SQ: the social certificate, and it requires an A

MPS-Socially Qualified certifies good working conditions, health and safety, based on the guidelines of the International Labour Organisation. MPS states that a valid MPS-A qualification is needed to participate — so a grower holding MPS-SQ holds, by construction, an A-level environmental record as well. MPS lists it as part of the FSI social basket. The basket, and which schemes fill which column →

The other letters you may see

MPS also offers MPS-Compact, described as a simplified certification for small-scale growers focused on continuous improvement in production inputs and traceability, and product-level and add-on schemes for demonstrating the absence of particular active substances or minimal chemical crop protection. We have read their one-line descriptions and no more, and say no more about them.

How a buyer checks a claim

MPS states that certified participants are visible on the auction clock front, in the MPS Trade Portal, and through the MPS vignette on products, and its site offers a list of certified companies. Check the company and the letter there. A logo on a website is a claim; the register is the evidence.

What none of it tells you

An MPS letter describes the grower's recorded environmental inputs, its farm practices or its labour conditions. It says nothing about the flowers in a particular box — not length, head size, vase life or freedom from a regulated pest — and nothing about whether the grower's Kenyan export licence or KEPHIS certification is in order. What is verifiable about a Kenyan supplier, in order →

What to ask

• Which MPS letter, and as at which quarter?
• MPS-GAP or MPS-SQ as well, or ABC alone?
• The company's entry in the MPS list of certified companies, rather than a certificate PDF.