Ronald Bown, chairman of the Chilean Association of Exporters (Asoex), has moved to end a dispute brewing within growers’ federation Fedefruta surrounding the implementation of ChileGAP.
As reported on freshinfo, ChileGAP, the nation-wide good agricultural practices programme, is officially benchmarked against EurepGAP. But former Fedefruta president Ricardo Ariztía has claimed ChileGAP is monopolistic and a money-making enterprise.
Not so, Bown, pictured, told the Journal during the PMA exhibition in California. “Our objective with ChileGAP has always been clear,” he said.
“It is an alternative certification scheme for growers; they are not obliged to use the service. We are looking to create a programme which, under one umbrella, can cost-effectively meet all the international certification requirements of Chilean growers and exporters, be that EurepGAP, Nature’s Choice, SQF or whatever.
“Without this option, growers will need to receive several audits each year to meet the standards and protocols of their customers around the world. If we don’t do these things for ourselves, then the market will act for us and our costs will inevitably increase. No supermarket is going to pay these extra costs,” he said.
As with EurepGAP, ChileGAP, which has total equivalence to the European-bred programme, will accredit certification bodies (CBs) to carry out the auditing process on its behalf. “We will be happy to have as many CBs as possible working with us,” said Bown. “They will pay us a small fee, but it is the CBs and not us that will charge the growers.”
ChileGAP has a steering committee and a technical steering committee, with representatives from a cross-section of the Chilean industry, including Fedefruta. “Mr Ariztía has made some provocative comments which I cannot understand,” said Bown. “I hope it is because he was ill-informed and if that is because we haven’t put across all the right messages then we will endeavour to do so.
“It should not be a problem. ChileGAP is a positive thing for the industry. If people choose to use the service they will, and if they don’t they won’t; it’s as simple as that.”
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