The move to benchmark Thai production standards with GlobalGAP standards, with the creation of ThaiGAP, was formalised in Bangkok last week.
Thai deputy prime minister Kosit Pupienmrat, who spoke at the GlobalGAP conference last Friday, said: “Thailand is behind the spirit of GlobalGAP. The consumer demands food safety assurance and this is one of the strongest forces driving food safety standards in Thailand - we see the GlobalGAP standards as some of the most comprehensive.”
But he admitted that more needed to be done to educate the Thai industry and, in particular, smallholder producers.
So far only some five to 10 per cent of Thai growers are familiar with and prepared to upgrade their processes to meet GlobalGAP standards, he said.
“We need to think about how we can focus on globalisation, yet remain locally accountable,” he added.
Chusak Chuenprayoth, director at Thailand-based fresh produce supplier KC Fresh and project director for ThaiGAP, has been instrumental in setting up the initiative after realising the potential of the UK market. “We started to translate the GlobalGAP standards three years ago - unofficially - because we wanted to make them really clear for local growers,” he told FPJ. “We started thinking about ThaiGAP one year ago.”
The benchmarked standards will be implemented in 1,000 groups of Thai growers, made up of 10 to 15 farms each, within the next two years.
The number of businesses included in the scheme will grow in relation to the projected growth in exports.
