Latin-America Expands GLOBALG.A.P Certification to Livestock and Aquaculture

Participants of the TOUR 2011 event came from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and others. They learnt about the progress of GLOBALG.A.P Certification activities in Latin America, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to Global G.A.P.

The region is bringing about one of the biggest expansions into livestock and aquaculture certification coming from the traditionally strong base of fruit and vegetable certification, a number of initiatives are now focusing on aquaculture and livestock. As host country, Brazil alone showed important advances in the implementation of Good Agricultural Practice in products like poultry (in particular for Europe), aquaculture (native species), palm oil, soya, maize, cattle and others. Brazil also proved how GLOBALG.A.P makes its products more competitive and increases clients' trust. 

A presented example of engagement was Nova Mutum. Nova Mutum presented the concept of Good Agricultural Practice for integrating a whole region within Mato Grosso. The standard MUTUMGAP, as main result of this work, was officially presented to GLOBALG.A.P to begin the benchmarking procedure.

Important work has been done by the National Technical Working Group (NTWG) in Latin America. They developed the interpretation guidelines for both Integrated Farm Assurance and GRASP social assessments and the interface with the public sector organizations in the country. Their active participation in GLOBALG.A.P technical consultations place the NTWG as the best tool to achieve the standards harmonization in a country.
                                    
Of interest to participants was to learn what impact Asia has on the LA region. Wang Daning, Deputy Chief Administrator, Certification and Accreditation Administration of P.R (CNCA) from China underlined his offer to cooperate with GLOBALG.A.P on the implementation of Good Agricultural Practice in China, and mentioned that this is also likely to have an impact on international trade with China. 

Finally, the role of traceability is growing in the entire sector, and that was reflected by several presentations including beef from Uruguay (by Felipe D'Albora, INAC) and also fruit and vegetables for national retail and processing operators (by Thomas Eckschmidt, PariPassu). Traceability is also the pre-requisite for the Primary Farm Assurance - PFA Standard of GLOBALG.A.P to prepare producers on the way to full GLOBALG.A.P Certification.