The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries (MICAF) in Jamaica commissioned GLOBALG.A.P. to review the effectiveness, cost efficiency, and sustainability of the government’s approach to supporting the implementation of the GLOBALG.A.P. IFA standard and to assist in developing a framework for the implementation and monitoring of GLOBALG.A.P. in Essex Valley and additional sites. The framework should also support the long-term training of beneficiaries by recognized agricultural institutions in Jamaica, in keeping with the requirements of the GLOBALG.A.P. IFA standard.
The review revealed that although there are several modern agroparks and product handling units in the region, production had not yet begun. 30 people were trained on the GLOBALG.A.P. IFA standard and evaluated based on the Farm Assurer qualification requirements. As there were no available non-certified farms, GLOBALG.A.P. carried out pre-audit farm assessments (standard product) at four already-certified sites in order to gather further practical on-site experience and to see how the GLOBALG.A.P. IFA standard operates in practice.
With the objective of making G.A.P. principles more accessible and easy-to-implement, GLOBALG.A.P. developed three new instructional G.A.P. in Action videos on post-harvest hygiene, plant protection products, and waste management. In addition, a training concept was developed for use by the key organizations working directly with producers to familiarize them with the G.A.P. methodology and standard requirements.
The final assessment report included recommendations on how to further facilitate GLOBALG.A.P. implementation in Jamaica by making use of different entry tools, such as localg.a.p., directing available funds towards awareness-raising, expanding producer capacities, and improving the institutional framework through the creation of collaboration platforms such as a GLOBALG.A.P. National Technical Working Group.