Assessment of adoption of Global GAP standard: Evidences from Fruit and Vegetable farmers

Abstract

Food safety certifications, such as the Global Good Agricultural practices standard (GGAP), are mandatory for export. This research was conducted as a baseline to study the suitability of this standard in the generic conditions of Pakistan. A questionnaire was prepared based on the Fruit and Vegetable (F&V) module of GGAP. Based on annual turnover, five (5) groups were designed comprising fifteen (15) farmers. Results revealed that the clauses related to simple paperwork were found implementable. However, clauses that needed capital investment and technical records, etc., were declared as not implementable. Results also revealed that a significant number of farmers favoured declaring risk assessment, training, and documents as implementable. Results of record keeping, installation, visual presentation, and infrastructure showed that 42-56% of clauses were implementable. Moreover, in the case of external testing, health safety, and hygiene, 24-37 % of clauses were found to be not implementable. So, based on the results, it can be concluded that a major number of the Global GAP standard clauses were found unsuitable or not implementable in the generic conditions of Pakistan, and there is a dire need to harmonize clauses to create local standards.