Development of a Good Agricultural Practice Approach at FAO by Loretta Sonn, Senior Technical Adviser, FAO Agriculture Department

Challenges Improve food security, rural livelihoods, income Satisfy increasing and diversified demands for safe and nutritious food and other products Conserve and protect the natural resource base Commitments WSSD and SARD - economic, social and environmental sustainability World Food Summit Plan of Action Millennium Development Goals

Development in the Food and Agriculture Sector Demand by consumers, retailers, processors –Food safety, quality, nutrition –Environmental impact of practices Supply by farmers who adopt practices –Ensure livelihoods –Conserve natural resource base –Maintain cultural and social values Support by governments and institutions –Food safety, trade –Sustainable farming policies –Research, extension, education, credit –Market and institutional infrastructure

What are GAPs ? …Understanding the variety of standards that call themselves GAPs…

GAP – History of the concept For decades: extension and research guidelines on good practices More recent trend: GAP in food markets - growing number of GAP codes & standards - privatization of standards Renewed attention as entry point for food safety & quality in food chain

Today : proliferation of standards relating to GAPs Private certification and standards (e.g.: EUREP, retail…) –Market incentives are key –Mainly focus on food safety and quality; impact on product more than on sustainability –Distinguished or selected groups of farmers Public legislation and policies (e.g. : extension, research) –Society-driven – broader sustainability priorities –Lack resources –Local, small farmer-adapted Fair trade, organic –Support and capacity building –but limited markets in long term

Issues Too many standards and codes - confusion Opportunities, but hard for small farmers to meet standards, not always a price premium Different scopes of GAP Are food safety/quality and food security/sustainability GAPs compatible or contradictory?

Role of FAO Information role Facilitation role (public-private) Policy assistance and technical expertise at country level (IPM, conservation agriculture, best water use practices, animal husbandry, agro-ecology, conflict management, supply chains, policy definition, etc) Supported by: Vast country presence and Regional offices Resource mobilization capacity

Good Agricultural Practices FAO definition Good Agricultural Practices are environmentally sound, economically viable and socially acceptable, and result in safe and healthy food and non-food agricultural products = 3 pillars +1

FAO does and donts on GAP (guidance from Member States) Voluntary practices : no new intergovernmental standard, no new barriers to trade No new demands on resource-poor producers Consistent with existing regulations (Codex, IPPC,...) Share lessons through multi-stakeholder processes and capacity building Consider different commodities, agro-ecosystems, and resources of farmers

Past FAO Activities on a GAP Approach Two Electronic Discussions on GAP in context of SARD Identification of Preliminary Set of Components Debate at FAO Committee on Agriculture (Apr 2003 and 2005) GAP Expert Consultation (Nov 2003) FAO workshop on GAP (Oct 2004)

11 components of GAP Forms 11 groups of agricultural practices Identifies hazards to be avoided Identifies outcomes to be promoted = Provides a basis for the development of codes of practice for individual agricultural production systems

Components and related practices Soil Water Crop and fodder production Crop protection Animal feed and livestock production Animal health and welfare Harvest and on-farm processing and storage Energy and waste management Human welfare, health and safety Wildlife and landscape

Where to ? Compare existing GAP-related schemes; identify country experiences Elaborate principles and methodology for tailoring GAP components to a given context Multi-stakeholder national and regional processes promoting implementation of locally agreed GAPs Capacity building through: –awareness creation (actors in the supply chain; policy makers) –information: databases, web –field projects –training of trainers and farmer leaders

Example : Thailand FAO project Strengthening compliance with SPS requirements for fresh fruits and vegetables Analytical study on market standards for safety and quality of fresh fruit and vegetbales FAO-Thailand Workshop on « GAP for Fresh Fruit and Vegetables » Bangkok, September 2005 : status, next steps

Example: Burkina Faso Define GAPs for a mixed farming system (cotton- cereal-livestock), not monoculture Multistakeholder negotiation –private sector, research, extension, farmers organizations, government, etc. Establish a PROCESS to locally define GAPs in the context of: –stakeholders constraints & incentives, livelihoods –which actors & factors of change in the system influence GAP adoption Capacity building of farmers and their organizations through farmer field schools Policy mainstreaming of GAP

Other FAO activities on GAP Meat, milk and feed : GAP stakeholders workshop in Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia and others Latin America : trainings and training tools on food safety and quality in , electronic conference in 2004 Asia : sub regional GAP workshops in 2003 and 2005 Zambia. Study Linking Smallholders to Supermarkets – what role for GAP? FAO Expert consultation (2003) and workshop (2004) and many others !

FAO GAP Website

FAO GAP Database – Use it !

FAO GAP Database

International Portal on Standards

An open process Share with us analytical / normative work and studies Inform governments, relay their requests for assistance on GAP Submit your experiences to GAP database Read more at Contact :