Application of multi-criteria decision-making methods: certification mechanisms for organic produce in Brazil

A rural producer who wishes to market organic products must obtain the Brazilian Organic Conformity Assessment System seal and consider a series of criteria for certification. The objective of this article is to identify which criteria should take priority and which organic conformity assessment mechanism (certification by Audit or by the Participatory Guarantee System—SPG) is the most appropriate option for a rural producer who wishes to obtain the seal of organic certification. After a bibliometric analysis, the researchers used the Analytic Hierarchy Process multicriteria method. A sensitivity analysis was also carried out to investigate variations in the priorities of the criteria and certification alternatives. The results indicated the following order of priority of the criteria: cost, market access, and producer availability. SPG was the most relevant assessment mechanism.