ColombiaGAP has got underway with the announcement from Proexport Colombia this week that a technical working group for the South American country has been set up.
The good agricultural practices (GAP) programme in the country is the result of technical co-operation between the Inter-American Development Bank and Colombian public-private non-traditional exports initiative CCI.
The working group will concentrate on harmonising GAP protocols and adopting traceability systems. Significantly, it already has the backing of EurepGAP and is made up of representatives of Colombian exotics marketers and exporters Andes Export Company, Caribbean Exotics, El Tesoro Fruit, Country Fruits, Novacampo and Casa Luker. But the stated aim of the working group is to embrace all Colombian agri-food exporters.
The group also has the backing of the Colombian farm, environment, education and social protection ministries as well as a number of other government and non-government agencies such as flower growers’ association Asocolflores and banana giants Uniban and Banacol as well as trade association Augura and export promotion agency Proexport.
The first products for which protocols are being drawn up are granadilla, tamarillo, physalis, pitahaya and baby bananas all of which will feature in a pilot project to be launched in the second half of the year. But protocols for a wider range will follow subsequently to encompass banana and vegetable production as well as flowers complementary to Proexport’s work with Florverde.
ColombiaGAP will also cover human resources issues such as training and worker welfare in order to strengthen Colombian access to European and US North American markets.
“We have been working on this since last May,” said Alejandro Huertas, of CCI. “And we have had an inspector in Chile to research the ChileGAP experience and see how we can adapt that to our farms and production which are on a much smaller scale than in Chile.”
The establishment of ColombiaGAP will be a major breakthrough for the Andean-Caribbean country on international markets. “It is the first time that the public and private sectors have really come together like this,” said Huertas.
These comments were echoed by Astrid Duque, business and trade adviser at Proexport Colombia. “ColombiaGAP, as well as the renovation of Colombian lab facilities, will give peace of mind to all buyers in the UK and the rest of Europe. We have had problems in the past…but growers in Colombia are willing to continue working towards achieving high standards of production.”
