New guidelines to local horticulture farmers access new markets

International agricultural standards body, GLOBALGAP, has produced guidelines to help local horticulture smallholder farmers meet export standards and increase their access to the international markets, an official has said.

There are stringent demands on product quality, safety and hygiene and local farmers who aspire to export are required to meet the standards, Zimbabwe Agricultural Competitiveness Programme deputy chief of party, Godfrey Mudimu said.

GLOBALGAP, an international standard setting body for agriculture practices across the globe had developed LocalGAP, to accommodate emerging producers.

“The localGAP is intended to meet the minimum requirements of good agricultural practices, but is not as exacting as the GLOBALGAP IFA standard. In developing our LocalGAP, we will customize the LocalGAP to meet our specific requirements in Zimbabwe,” Mudimu said.

“Implementing the LocalGAP puts the smallholder producers in a position where they can start supplying the market with product meeting the quality requirements of the international market as they upgrade themselves until they can achieve GLOBALGAP IFA certification.”

Local famers have in the past found it difficult to access international markets which require GLOBALGAP certification he said.- The Source

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