GAP – WAY FORWARD

1. GAP – WAY FORWARD Anil Jauhri Quality Council of India

2. FOOD REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS • New regulatory regime in India • Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has notified new regulations wef 5 Aug 2011 • Old PFA/FPO/MMPO etc regime is history • Requirements for pesticide residue etc prescribed • Source is agricultural produce • Can not be dealt with in processing • Necessary to ensure raw material is free from contaminants • GAP is the way to go

3. ISSUES IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE Reports of • Pesticide, fertilizer residues • Heavy metals • Artificial colours • Burnt oil residues • Poor quality and keeping quality due to poor quality of water and soil • Stinking smell, microbial growth • Hormone residues • Antibiotic residues etc.

4. ADVERSE EFFECTS OF CURRENT AGRICULTURE PRACTICES • Indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers • Use of excessive water leading to depletion of water resources • Irrational use of pesticides leading to high pesticide residues • Contamination of water bodies and under ground water • Degradation of soil quality particularly micronutrients

5. ADVERSE EFFECTS OF CURRENT AGRICULTURE PRACTICES • Soil degradation and erosion due to lack • of soil conservation measures • Low productivity and quality • loss of up to 35 percent of horticultural • produce during harvesting and post harvest operations • Risk to health and safety of agricultural • workers

6. BENEFITS OF GAP • Conserves soil and water resources • Maintains a diverse ecosystem • Reduces environmental impacts • Minimizes pest problems • Provides worker safety at work • Produces safe & hygienic produce for consumption • Profitable to farmers

7. OBJECTIVES OF GAP • Increase in agricultural productivity & reduction in loss • Lowering production costs (p/unit) • Increasing food safety and quality by: • Eradicating undesirable practices • Supporting long term thinking / strategies • Optimizing use of natural resources, land, water, human capital • Enhancing information sharing and consensus • on “good farming practices”

8. GLOBAL SCENARIO • Serious food safety concerns • Entire food chain being regulated • Development of EurepGap – now GlobalGap • GlobalGap certification becoming a requirement for European and other markets • Approx 3000 farmers certified in India • QCI MoU with GlobalGap – National Technical Working Group under Dr. ManglaRai • National Interpretation document prepared to ver 4 of Global Gap standards • To be submitted to Global Gap for endorsement shortly • Once endorsed, to be used for certification in India

9. NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS • Need for India GAP – recognized by APEDA – IndiaGAP document developed • Two objectives – encourage GAP in domestic market – benchmark with GlobalGAP • Handed over to BIS for bringing out national standard • BIS policy – certification only by BIS – detrimental to wider adoption – GlobalGap not ready to benchmark • FSSAI – decision to develop a voluntary documents • Basic GAP – subset of IndiaGAP – encourage phased approach • Voluntary certification system to be designed by QCI • CBs accredited by NABCB to be utilized

10. CONCLUSION • Need to promote GAP • Human resources to be created – QCI organized 5 programmes in Aug/Sept 2011 for stakeholders around India • Need for competent training/counselling organizations/individuals duly certified/accredited – QCI planning to create system • Incentivize GAP • Financial assistance from National Horticulture Mission • Food processors/Retailers to be persuaded to insist on GAP certification to build market pressure

11. ThanksAny Questions?