Transcript pps - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

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
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
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 ?
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
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
Simple assumption…
Good production practices
at farm level can make a
huge difference!
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
“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 don’t always get a price premium
• Different scopes of GAP
• Are food safety/quality and food
security/sustainability GAPs compatible or
contradictory?
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...
… which means
… that farmers have many incentives
to apply GAPs whether or not that
gives them access to segregated
markets or price premiums
2. And FAO…? Development of a
GAP Approach in FAO
a. Identification of Preliminary Principles of
GAP and electronic discussions in
context of SARD
b. Request for guidance at COAG 2003
c. GAP Expert Consultation, Nov 2003,
Rome
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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Soil
The 11 components
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
b. FAO dos and don’ts on GAP:
(COAG 2003)
• COAG: ”GOOD, GO AHEAD” but…
DON’Ts
• 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
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”
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
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
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
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
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 ?
•
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
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
Conclusion : key words !
• GAP : Old wine in new bottles ? Or…working
better together? It’s about INTEGRATION
• Win-win situations for consumers, markets
and farmers. It’s about NEGOTIATION
• Ultimately, a matter of policy choice for govts,
minimizing trade-offs. It’s about SELECTION
• Practical, flexible approaches in GAP
worskhop… It’s about IMPLEMENTATION
…have a fruitful
workshop !