The number of GLOBALG.A.P. certified producers in 2020 grew insignificantly by about 10%, but more will be reliably known in February 2021 when the annual certification cycle ends and trends for the year are determined as told by Yulia Sliva, the chairwoman of the GLOBALG.A.P. National Technical Working Group (NTWG) in Ukraine, in a comment for AgroPortal.ua.
“The pace of certification today reflects the general trend in the world associated with the pandemic and other economic circumstances,” the chairwoman notes. According to her, they could grow more. Some companies did not continue a certification in 2020 and some passed it for the first time. “But if we take into account the growth provided by new producers, we can say that Ukraine is still keeping pace,” says Ms. Sliva.
Read also: Ukrainian potato producer expands area and storage capacity for potatoes
In addition to the pandemic, certification in 2020 was affected by drought and certain crop failures in Ukraine. In particular, there were questions about the exports of plant products. For example, there were problems with the exports of apples.
“Firstly, there was a poor harvest compared to previous periods, and secondly, some producers refused GLOBALG.A.P. certification. Apples could be sold in Ukraine at an absolutely reasonable price and for the domestic market, GLOBALG.A.P. certification is not required,” the specialist explains.
During the lockdown period of April-May 2020 due to the lack of regulatory mechanisms in the market for the sale of vegetables, fruits, etc., there were conditions under which producers did not extend certification at all. It was often impossible to sell products on the domestic market and to export them too,” recalls Ms. Sliva.
At the same time, she draws attention to the fact that the certification process is becoming more and more producer-friendly. In particular, today GLOBALG.A.P. documents exist in Ukrainian, their translation and harmonization were carried out by the GLOBALG.A.P.-NTWG in Ukraine with the support of USAID’s Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities (AGRO) project.
“Producers can now use the Ukrainian language versions, which have the same status as other versions,” says the chairwoman of the GLOBALG.A.P.-NTWG in Ukraine and adds that the new 6.0 version of the GLOBALG.A.P standard is currently being developed.
“It is being fully revised and developed to reflect new requirements and trends in food safety management. The standard will be published in 2022 and, in 2023, it will become mandatory for all producers,” said Ms. Sliva.
The use of the site materials is free if there is a direct and open for search engines hyperlink to a specific publication of the East-Fruit.com website.
