GAP certification underscored

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS) in coordination with Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office 10 (DA-RFO 10) organized an inception meeting for the establishment of a Regional Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Team in Region 10, recently held in the City.

 The said inception meeting was attended by the Management Committee (ManCom) members, including staff from the different concerned divisions of DA-RFO 10 and the Regional Inspection Team members.

“In the face of Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Integration aiming to create a stable, prosperous and highly competitive ASEAN Economic Region in which there is free flow of goods, services and investments, a freer flow of capital, the agricultural sector is in need to boost its performance to be able to compete in the global market,” said Constancio C. Maghanoy, Jr., Assistant Regional Director of DA-RFO 10.

Mary Grace Mandigma, OIC Chief Science Research Specialist of the Technical Services Division of BAFS reported that in the Philippines, there are only 23 Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certified farms, while in Region 10, currently there is only one GAP certified which is the Del Monte Philippines Incorporated.

“There is a need for DA, as the main agency assisting our farmers, to create a Regional GAP Team (RGT). Its creation is crucial in preparation towards ASEAN Integration when free trade takes place, those farms/producers who are GAP certified are only allowed in the said economic undertaking. Thus, there is a need to intensify awareness among farmers small or large scale ones to understand the importance of GAP not just to boost their farm produce but also for our country to be competitive with the other ASEAN nations,” she further said.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) uses GAP as a collection of principles to apply for on-farm production and post-production processes, resulting in safe and healthy food and non-food agricultural products, while taking into account economical, social and environmental sustainability.

The Philippine GAP Program is a strategy to enhance farmers’ competitiveness with the goal to increase the adoption of its standard at the farm level and translate it to the increase in number of GAP certified farms.

RGT will involve all stakeholders in the implementation, thereby, providing the guarantee of a bottom-up approach. It will also compose of pool of technical advisers and trainers for the farmers and provide technical assistance towards GAP certification.

Creating RGTs is, according to Mandigma, an initiative that should be seen as a positive development in enhancing the market competitiveness of the farmers and in order to respond to our commitment as in ASEAN Economic Blueprint (AEC).

“The RGT will serve as the localized farm assurer program bringing change not only to the farmers’ life but also to our economy,” she concluded.#(Charisse P. Salarda DA-RAFIS 10)