GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE:

1
GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
ON THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLES SUB-SECTOR AN
INTRODUCTION
2
By Mr. Roberto C. Amores Trustee,
Philexport President, Philfoodex
3
WELCOME !!!

• YOUR INDIVIDUAL VIEWS AND EXPERIENCES WOULD BE
  CRUCIAL INPUTS IN ARRIVING AT A SPECIFIC COURSE
  OF ACTION TOWARDS A UNIFIED DIRECTION IN PURSUING
  GOOD AGRICULTURAL PROGRAM

4

• FIRST, ALLOW ME TO SHARE OUR PAST AND RECENT
  EXPERIENCES AS PRODUCER/PROCESSOR/EXPORTER OF
  FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

5
These insights and experiences may provide us a
clearer and deeper understanding of the realities
facing the Philippine food sector and the
obstacles we would all have to surmount in
relation to the more overriding concern of
ensuring safe and quality food.
6
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS ON FOOD TRADE

• Increased demand for food, increasing awareness
  for food and environment safety, bio-terrorism,
  food-borne illnesses, goal for sustainable
  agriculture

Developing nations cannot cope
Developed countries impose stricter environmental
and health regulations
7
RELEVANT EXPERIENCES ON MANGO
8

• September, 2004, Japan one of the major
  Philippine mango export market, lowered the
  maximum residue level of chlorpyrifos (toxic
  substance found in some pesticides) for
  Philippine fresh mangoes from 0.5 ppm to 0.05
  ppm.
• Perceived to be arbitrary as seen in the
  different MRLs on other fruits being imported by
  Japan.

9
MRL of fruits that are directly consumed without
peeling
MRL of fruits that are peeled and scooped before
eating like mangoes
vs.
Source Japan Ministry of Health, Welfare and
Labor
10

• Most of mango growers are through small/backyard
  farms and lack information about Good
  Agricultural Practices (GAP).

• The chemicals that these mango growers use may
  not be accredited by the exporting countries.

• Because of the seemingly arbitrary assignment of
  MRLs for the different fruits, there seems to be
  bias against mangoes which can possibly hinder
  the export growth of the industry.

11
RELEVANT EXPERIENCES ON OKRA
12

• In 2001, fresh okras inspected at the Japanese
  port, was found out to have chlorpyrifos residue
  of 0.17 ppm, which is above the allowable MRL of
  0.1 ppm.

• The okras were detained for 48 hours in the
  Japanese port and were subjected to inspections.
  This weakened the marketability of okras because
  its shelf-life was reduced.

• Exports of okra drastically declined in the year
  2002 from 2,200 metric tons with approximate
  value of 6.0 Mn down to 400 metric tons with
  reduced value of about 1.0 Mn.

13
RESPONSE OF THE OKRA INDUSTRY
14

• Mandatory accreditation of the farms and
  packaging stations of all exporters and growers.

• Department of Agriculture / Bureau of Plant
  Industry Quarantine Service also assigned code
  for each farmer which is reflected in the final
  cartons for export, this is now the traceability
  code.

15

• BPI Plant Quarantine Inspectors were assigned to
  monitor the proper use of accredited chemicals.

• Phytosanitary certificate is issued to the
  exporter after inspection in the respective
  packing houses.

16
THEN, AFTER 7 YEARS, AS IF HISTORY REPEATING
ITSELF.... THE OKRA INDUSTRY IS NOW
CONFRONTED WITH A MORE SERIOUS PROBLEM.
17

• Recently, in the past 6 months of 2008, there
  were 16 cases of chemical detections which
  exceeded the MRLs. These involved four
  chemicals. Fluazifop, Metamidophos, Difeconazole
  and Tebufenocide.
• Subsequently, fresh okra from Philippines were
  subjected to chemical residue tests on the four
  chemicals mentioned above by Japan MHLW which
  totally weakened the marketability of okras.
• There is possibility of Philippine okra being
  banned if drastic measures are not immediately
  enforced to convince Japan MHLW that absolutely
  no more incidence of detections.

18
The okra industry represented by the Philippine
Okra Producers and Exporters Association (POPEA)
immediately adopted stricter protocols to attain
full compliance to Japans Food Safety Laws and
Regulations. Since the problem of detection is
traced in okra production practices of farmers,
short of immediately adopting wide implementation
of honest to goodness GAP and standards, POPEA
agreed to enforce stricter controls and policies
on the use and management of pesticides/chemicals.
19
Examples

• Pesticides/ Fungicides with MRLs of below 1.0 ppm
  and Herbicides with MRL of below 0.2 ppm
  absolutely will not be allowed to be used

20
Examples
2. Only authorized skilled, trained and properly
equipped spraying teams will be allowed to
undertake spraying. During spraying farmers
presence will be required at all times.
21
Examples
3. Resellers of chemicals will be accredited and
screened to ensure that chemicals are not
adulterated or tainted.
22
POPEA is positively inclined to require all its
okra growers to adopt GAP. FAO definition Good
Agricultural Practices are practices that
address environmental, economic and social
sustainability for on-farm processes, and result
in safe and quality food and non-food
agricultural products. (FAO COAG 2003 GAP paper)
23
FOUR PILLARS OF GAP Economic Viability Environm
ental Sustainability Social Acceptability Food
Safety and Quality
24
To implement GAP Start with export
crops. Government must be able to provide
adequate resources and sustained presence to
monitor compliance by farmers to include
farmers planting other crops adjacent to the
export crop farms to avoid any contaminations.

25
FAO IDENTIFIED SOME CHALLENGES TO GAP WHICH MUST
BE ADDRESSED
26

• GAP implementation and especially record keeping
  and certification will increase production cost.
  In these respect, lack of harmonization between
  existing GAP-related schemes and availability of
  affordable certification systems has often led to
  increased confusion and certification costs for
  farmers and exporters.

27

• Standards of GAP can be used to serve competing
  interests of specific stakeholders in agri-food
  supply chains by modifying supplier-buyer
  relations.
• There is a high risk that small scale farmers
  will not be able to seize export market
  opportunities unless they are adequately
  informed, technically prepared and organized to
  meet this new challenge.

28

• Compliance with GAP standards does not always
  foster all environmental and social benefits.
• Awareness raising is needed of win-win
  practices which lead to improvements in terms of
  yield and production efficiencies as well as
  environment, health and safety of workers. Such
  approach is Integrated Production and Pest
  Management (IPPM).

29
THANK YOU!