In order to share and promote good agricultural practices, EU ProLocal programme hosted the GlobalG.A.P. Tour Conference, being held the first time in B&H.
EU ProLocal, as the joint programme of the European Union and the German Government, supports economic growth in BiH by inter alia helping farmers to reach buyers and become more recognizable on the EU markets. Adoption of Good Agricultural Practices represents a step in the right direction. “Good agricultural practices open the door to international markets and assist in finding strategic partners. Their adoption leads to increase of production scope which boosts employment. That is why EU ProLocal took part in this GlobalG.A.P.’s activity and brought the Conference to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Besides, EU ProLocal developed BiH versions of the documents which regulate adoption and application of good agricultural practices. We thus created the foundation for training of the next generations of service providers who will assist SMEs in BiH in adoption of these practices”, notes Brigitte Heuel-Rolf, Country Director for BiH and Montenegro in GIZ.
GlobalG.A.P. is a food production system that enables control over the production process, transport, packaging and environment as well as employee protection. Benefits of its application for local farmers are manifold. “To put it simply, for farmers in BiH GlobalG.A.P. standard represents a visa for export of products to the European Union. Large sales chains and food producers apply a preferential treatment for products grown in line with the good agricultural practices that this standard prescribes. It helps us in strengthening the competitiveness on both, local and international markets”, explains Ibrahim Tursunović, Deputy Director of Maočanka Commerce from Brčko, which has been applying GlobalG.A.P. standard since 2007.
Yesterday’s conference was attended by a wide range of representatives from the agriculture value chain, which has shown a high level of interest for good agricultural practices in BiH. “Applying these practices means better access to markets for producers, safer products for retailers and consumers, more sustainable production systems for governments, and greater business opportunities for service providers,” concluded Flavio Alzueta, Vice President of GlobalG.A.P.
