Good Agricultural Practices Approach GAP

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• Good Agricultural Practices Approach (GAP)
• A Working Concept
• By Anne-Sophie Poisot, FAO/AGD
• FAO Workshop on Good Agricultural Practices,
  27-29 October 2004, Rome

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1. Big challenges for agriculture ?

• Improve food security, livelihoods
• Satisfy increasing demands for safe and
  nutritious food and other products
• Conserve the natural resource base
• Commitments
• WSSD and SARD - economic, social and
  environmental sustainability
• World Food Summit Plan of Action, MDGs

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The million dollar question is

• How to make agricultural systems
• in developing countries
• more sustainable, in a globalizing world where
  food supply chains
• are ever more competitive ?

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Developments in Ag. Sector

• Demand by consumers, retailers, processors
• Food safety, quality, nutrition
• Environmental impact of agriculture
• Supply by farmers who adopt practices
• Improve livelihoods
• Support by governments and institutions
• Sustainable agriculture policies
• Research, extension, education, credit,
  infrastructure

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GAP What is new under the sun ?

• 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

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Simple assumption

• Good production practices at farm level can make
  a huge difference!

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Can codes support sustainable ag.?

• Private certification and standards (e.g. EUREP,
  retail)
• Competitive advantage - not all farmers can meet
• Focus more on impact on product than on
  sustainability
• Public legislation and policies (e.g.
  extension, research)
• Society-driven broader sustainability
  priorities
• Local, small farmer-adapted
• But lack financial resources
• Fair trade, organic
• A mix of both
• Provide capacity building. Environmental and
  social aspects
• But market share may be limited in longer term

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Any problem?

• Too many standards and codes, confusing
• Opportunities, but hard for small farmers to
  meet private export standards (cost,
  investments, paperwork) and certification fees
• Farmers dont always get a price premium
• Different scopes of GAP
• Are food safety/quality and food
  security/sustainability GAPs compatible or
  contradictory?

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Farmers incentives to adopt?

• Economic price premium, market access access to
  inputs stabilize yield, increase productivity,
  reduce losses, increase farm asset value...
• Regulatory/Legal ascertain property rights to
  scare resources reduce liability...
• Human/social capital expand skill sets, reduce
  community tensions...

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which means

• that farmers have many incentives to apply GAPs
  whether or not that gives them access to
  segregated markets or price premiums

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2. And FAO? Development of a GAP Approach in FAO

• Identification of Preliminary Principles of GAP
  and electronic discussions in context of SARD
• Request for guidance at COAG 2003
• GAP Expert Consultation, Nov 2003, Rome

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a. Global Principles of GAP

• Form 11 components of ag. practices
• Identify hazards to be avoided
• Identify outcomes to be promoted
• Provide a basis for the development
• of codes of practice for individual
• production systems

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The 11 components

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

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b. FAO dos and donts on GAP (COAG 2003)

• COAG GOOD, GO AHEAD but
• DONTs
• No new intergovernmental standard or
  certification, no barriers to trade voluntary
  practices
• No undue demands on resource-poor producers
• Consistent with existing regulations (Codex,
  IPPC, OIE)
• DOs
• Share lessons through multi-stakeholder processes
  and capacity building
• Consider different commodities, agro-ecosystems,
  and scale resources of farmers

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c. Expert Consultation definition of a GAP
approach

• addressing economic, environmental and social
  sustainability inclusive of food safety and
  quality
• focused on primary production (whilst considering
  the supply chain and institutional context)
• taking account voluntary and regulatory aspects
• within a given incentive and agro-ecology context
• Focus on a GAP Approach and not the creation of
  a FAO international Super-GAP

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Meanwhile, in the field

• Many projects related to GAP are implemented by
  different units Eastern Africa (AGAP), Latin
  America, Thailand, China (ESNS and RLC), Burkina
  Faso (AGD/AGS/AGPC), Asia region (AGE, AGSF),
  Brazil and West Africa (AGPC) etc, etc, etc
• With different entry points food safety and
  quality, sustainable production systems, meat and
  milk production, certification and value-chains,
  participatory extension etc, etc, etc

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3. Lessons learnt - Strategy

• Be strategic some crops have more impacts and
  potential than others
• Focus on improvement better, not best
  agricultural practices encourage innovation, not
  compliance
• Focus on the most serious impacts soil erosion,
  effluents, habitat conversion. 8-10 activities
  cause most environmental impacts
• Be open not enough effort made to collect/adapt
  lessons from around the world

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Lessons learnt - Stakeholders

• Work with producers, consumers, markets and
  governments, and use carrots and sticks
• Need to work with drivers of change
• Farmers and communities create most GAPs
• 400 buyers are key, more than millions of
  consumers need to engage industry

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Lessons learnt - Incentives

• Target farmer incentives and disencentives when
  designing GAP programmes
• GAPs increase product quality and reduces risk
  GAP can work without market incentives
• Most GAP pay for themselves, though not all
• Different agro-ecologies, institutional and
  market contexts different GAP priorities

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4. Possible Joint Action Areas - Global -

• Provide information on GAP schemes who, what,
  how, incentives, cost, benefits
• GAP comparative database http//www.fao.org/prods/
  gap/database/index.html
• GAP website http//www.fao.org/prods/GAP/gapindex_
  en.htm
• Define global principles of GAP
• 11 components need more work ?

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Possible Joint Action Areas- Local -

• Support local translation of principles into
  appropriate practices and indicators
• FAO may bring
• 1- Knowledge range (on policies, practices,
  impacts)
• 2- Facilitate multistakeholder negotiations on
  GAPs for a commodity/farming system
• 3- Capacity building trainer of trainers
  farmers

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Where could a GAP approach be most useful ?

• From the top when private company wants to
  improve its GAP standards in a meaningful way
• From the bottom help farmer groups integrate
  markets (technical advice on practices and
  managerial advice on commercialization)
• Support level help interested govnt understand
  implications, define policies and build capacity

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Conclusion key words !

• GAP Old wine in new bottles ? Orworking better
  together? Its about INTEGRATION
• Win-win situations for consumers, markets and
  farmers. Its about NEGOTIATION
• Ultimately, a matter of policy choice for govts,
  minimizing trade-offs. Its about SELECTION
• Practical, flexible approaches in GAP worskhop
  Its about IMPLEMENTATION

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• have a fruitful workshop !