The EU-funded Pesticides Initiative Programme (PIP) has rolled out its field training workshops to some 10 ACP countries in recent months, following a successful pilot experience carried out in Senegal in 2006.

The aim of the new training workshops is to help company managers pass on good agricultural practices to workers. Active teaching methods and tools adapted to the ACP fruit and vegetable sector have been developed and made available to local experts and company managers, according to PIP.

Some 300 company managers, including quality assurance and traceability managers, market preparation station managers and supervisory staff, and relay bodies involved in training small producers have already attended the workshops. From October 2006 to January 2007, group workshops were held in Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Zambia, Uganda, Dominican Republic and Madagascar. Local experts trained by PIO have conducted all the workshops.

In-company training based on the workshops has also been launched, especially in Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.

In the coming months, the training of manager trainers and the organisation of in-field training workshops will continue in all ACP states.

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