GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES ON THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLES SUB-SECTOR

1. GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES ON THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLES SUB-SECTOR AN INTRODUCTION

2. By : Mr. Roberto C. Amores Trustee, Philexport President, Philfoodex

3. WELCOME !!! YOUR INDIVIDUAL VIEWS AND EXPERIENCES WOULD BE CRUCIAL INPUTS IN ARRIVING AT A SPECIFIC COURSE OF ACTION TOWARDS A UNIFIED DIRECTION IN PURSUING GOOD AGRICULTURAL PROGRAM

4. FIRST, ALLOW ME TO SHARE OUR PAST AND RECENT EXPERIENCES AS PRODUCER/PROCESSOR/EXPORTER OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

5. These insights and experiences may provide us a clearer and deeper understanding of the realities facing the Philippine food sector and the obstacles we would all have to surmount in relation to the more overriding concern of ensuring safe and quality food.

6. GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS ON FOOD TRADE • Increased demand for food, increasing awareness for food and environment safety, bio-terrorism, food-borne illnesses, goal for sustainable agriculture Developing nations cannot cope Developed countries impose stricter environmental and health regulations

7. RELEVANT EXPERIENCES ON MANGO

8. September, 2004, Japan one of the major Philippine mango export market, lowered the maximum residue level of chlorpyrifos (toxic substance found in some pesticides) for Philippine fresh mangoes from 0.5 ppm to 0.05 ppm. • Perceived to be arbitrary as seen in the different MRLs on other fruits being imported by Japan.

9. 3.0ppm 1.0ppm 2.0ppm 1.0ppm 1.0ppm 1.0ppm 0.05ppm MRL of fruits that are directly consumed without peeling MRL of fruits that are peeled and scooped before eating like mangoes vs. • Source: Japan Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor

10. Most of mango growers are through small/backyard farms and lack information aboutGood AgriculturalPractices(GAP). • The chemicals that these mango growers use may not be accredited by the exporting countries. • Because of the seemingly arbitrary assignment of MRLs for the different fruits, there seems to be bias against mangoes which can possibly hinder the export growth of the industry.

11. RELEVANT EXPERIENCES ON OKRA

12. In 2001, fresh okras inspected at the Japanese port, was found out to have chlorpyrifos residue of 0.17 ppm, which is above the allowable MRL of 0.1 ppm. The okras were detained for 48 hours in the Japanese port and were subjected to inspections. This weakened the marketability of okras because its shelf-life was reduced. Exports of okra drastically declined in the year 2002 from 2,200 metric tons with approximate value of $6.0 Mn down to 400 metric tons with reduced value of about $1.0 Mn.

13. RESPONSE OF THE OKRA INDUSTRY

14. Mandatory accreditation of the farms and packaging stations of all exporters and growers. • Department of Agriculture / Bureau of Plant Industry Quarantine Service also assigned code for each farmer which is reflected in the final cartons for export, this is now the traceability code.

15. BPI Plant Quarantine Inspectors were assigned to monitor the proper use of accredited chemicals. • Phytosanitary certificate is issued to the exporter after inspection in the respective packing houses.

16. THEN, AFTER 7 YEARS, AS IF HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF.... THE OKRA INDUSTRY IS NOW CONFRONTED WITH A MORE SERIOUS PROBLEM.

17. Recently, in the past 6 months of 2008, there were 16 cases of chemical detections which exceeded the MRLs. These involved four chemicals. Fluazifop, Metamidophos, Difeconazole and Tebufenocide. Subsequently, fresh okra from Philippines were subjected to chemical residue tests on the four chemicals mentioned above by Japan MHLW which totally weakened the marketability of okras. There is possibility of Philippine okra being banned if drastic measures are not immediately enforced to convince Japan MHLW that absolutely no more incidence of detections.

18. The okra industry represented by the Philippine Okra Producers and Exporters Association (POPEA) immediately adopted stricter protocols to attain full compliance to Japan’s Food Safety Laws and Regulations. Since the problem of detection is traced in okra production practices of farmers, short of immediately adopting wide implementation of honest to goodness GAP and standards, POPEA agreed to enforce stricter controls and policies on the use and management of pesticides/chemicals.

19. Examples: Pesticides/ Fungicides with MRLs of below 1.0 ppm andHerbicides with MRL of below 0.2 ppm absolutely will not be allowed to be used

20. Examples: 2. Only authorized skilled, trained and properly equipped spraying teams will be allowed to undertake spraying. During spraying farmers presence will be required at all times.

21. Examples: 3. Resellers of chemicals will be accredited and screened to ensure that chemicals are not adulterated or tainted.

22. POPEA is positively inclined to require all its okra growers to adopt GAP. FAO definition: Good Agricultural Practices are “practices that address environmental, economic and social sustainability for on-farm processes, and result in safe and quality food and non-food agricultural products”. (FAO COAG 2003 GAP paper)

23. FOUR PILLARS OF GAP: Economic Viability Environmental Sustainability Social Acceptability Food Safety and Quality

24. To implement GAP: Start with export crops. Government must be able to provide adequate resources and sustained presence to monitor compliance by farmers to include farmers planting other crops adjacent to the export crop farms to avoidany contaminations.

25. FAO IDENTIFIED SOME CHALLENGES TO GAP WHICH MUST BE ADDRESSED

26. GAPimplementation and especially record keeping and certification will increase production cost. In these respect, lack of harmonization between existing GAP-related schemes and availability of affordable certification systems has often led to increased confusion and certification costs for farmers and exporters.

27. Standards of GAP can be used to serve competing interests of specific stakeholders in agri-food supply chains by modifying supplier-buyer relations. There is a high risk that small scale farmers will not be able to seize export market opportunities unless they are adequately informed, technically prepared and organized to meet this new challenge.

28. Compliance with GAP standards does not always foster all environmental and social benefits. Awareness raising is needed of “win-win” practices which lead to improvements in terms of yield and production efficiencies as well as environment, health and safety of workers. Such approach is Integrated Production and Pest Management (IPPM).

29. THANK YOU!