Systems and services update

The Namibian Agronomic Board (NAB) is on a mission to promote the Namibian agronomic industry, facilitating the production, processing, storage, and marketing of controlled agronomic and horticultural products in Namibia. The NAB sees GLOBALG.A.P. as an important tool in this process, and the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat has been working alongside NAB to facilitate the adoption and integration of the localg.a.p. PFA and GLOBALG.A.P. IFA standards in the region.

Activities throughout 2020 and 2021 have included the delivery of several training workshops to enhance the capacities of local experts in the assessment and implementation of GLOBALG.A.P. and localg.a.p. standards, as well as the provision of group certification workshops on quality management systems and internal inspector training.

In May 2022, former Managing Director Kristian Moeller* visited Namibia to speak with industry and government representatives on the importance of both GLOBALG.A.P. and localg.a.p. for Namibia. Discussion included the next steps toward adaptation of IFA to Namibia’s national legislation, while legislation was drafted in reference to minimum requirements for commercial sales of crop-based products in the country.

The GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat also conducted a series of mentorship programs in 2022, working closely with producers to prepare them to independently assess the status quo of farms under the localg.a.p. and GLOBALG.A.P. standards.

A total of 45 experts were trained in the IFA standard for fruit and vegetables, the Primary Farm Assurance standard, and group certification processes. An additional Namibian localg.a.p. program was also established for selected value chains.

*Dr. Kristian Moeller resigned from his role as Managing Director at GLOBALG.A.P. c/o FoodPLUS GmbH in May 2023.

Agriculture forms an essential part of the national economy in Tanzania. Under the Tanzanian Five-Year Development Plan, the Ministry of Agriculture plans to strengthen agriculture so that its share of Tanzania’s GDP will rise from 22% at present to 32% by 2025 or 2026. In addition, a national food security target has been set, with a self-sufficiency rate of 140%. 

As part of the efforts to meet these targets, a partnership between the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat, the Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA), and the Finnish agriculture agency for Food and Forest Development (FFD) sought to create better, more sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farmers in Tanzania. The partnership aimed to encourage smallholders to meet the quality demands of domestic export markets in order to drive growth. Specifically, increased awareness of and alignment with European market requirements was pursued through training on the GLOBALG.A.P. IFA standard for fruit and vegetables as well as the SPRING and GRASP add-ons, with the focus on increasing the number of certified producers in Tanzania. 

The GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat facilitated the delivery of several online Registered Trainer workshops to enhance the capacities of local experts in the implementation of the IFA standard. This project has also focused on training producers in the implementation and assessment of GRASP. 

As well as providing training, the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat worked in close collaboration with TAHA and FFD to organize a multi-day GLOBALG.A.P. TOUR stop in 2022 aimed at addressing market access challenges that were preventing compliance with GLOBALG.A.P. standards. Bringing together a diverse audience of producers, researchers, development partners, and government and industry representatives, the TOUR stop provided farmers, exporters, and traders with the information they need to not only achieve certification to IFA for fruit and vegetables but also to comply with the latest social sustainability criteria (including GRASP) and achieve sustainable water management through the SPRING add-on. 

We are proud of the opportunity to work alongside so many different participants with the same goal of supporting smallholders in Tanzania. Held in late November 2022, the TOUR stop key topics included assessing good agricultural practices in a global context, analyzing challenges and trends of GLOBALG.A.P. certification, amplifying consumer awareness of food safety, improving collaboration initiatives, and opportunities for producers, traders, and exporters.  

Over the course of the project, a total of 15 TAHA experts were trained on the IFA standard for fruit and vegetables and the GRASP add-on, enabling them to become Registered Trainers and further guide producers through the implementation process. 

As of December 2022, over 750 Tanzanian producers were certified to IFA for fruit and vegetables. Almost 600 were assessed to GRASP and one was assessed to SPRING. The GLOALG.A.P. Secretariat continues to work in Tanzania providing private IFA trainings. 

Employing 27% of Uzbekistan’s 35 million people, the agriculture industry plays a key role in the central Asian nation. The sector currently contributes to 28% of the country’s GDP and continues to see a 1.7% annual growth rate. In 2022, GLOBALG.A.P. partnered with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in order to support government efforts to diversify and intensify crop production. 

Uzbekistan has about 4.5 million hectares of arable land, about 10% of its total area, of which 4 million hectares are under irrigation. The country produces an annual 20 million tons of fruits and vegetables, though only 15% of this volume is processed at the industrial level and of this, up to 8% is exported. While the government has a long-term strategy with ambitious goals to become a global leader in the production and export of agricultural products, a significant obstacle remains underdeveloped infrastructure which leads to a loss of 30% of products during storage and collection. The GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat seeks to mitigate this by increasing awareness of its solutions and establishing a cohort of specialized Registered Trainers in Uzbekistan.  

Working closely with GIZ as well as with academic, political, and private sector bodies within Uzbekistan, the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat has supported the identification of 60 agricultural experts from across the country to receive specialized training in the flagship Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) standard.  

Representatives have made several trips to Uzbekistan meeting directly with ministry and industry representatives to facilitate GLOBALG.A.P. trainings, as well as to spread awareness of how the IFA standard can meaningfully support Uzbek farmers. 

Face-to-face training is being conducted in English, Russian, and Uzbek. The new Registered Trainers will be enabled to provide training on the GLOBALG.A.P. standard directly to farmers in Uzbekistan, creating a system where certification can become streamlined and widespread throughout Uzbekistan without the need of extensive external support.