According to expert forecasts, about 24 fruit-growing enterprises in Moldova will receive or confirm certificates of quality, safety, and social responsibility GLOBAL.G.A.P, GRASP, SMETA, and IFS in 2023. As a result, the total number of certificated enterprises will exceed 130, EastFruit reports.
Recently, the CRRM/USAID project “Competitiveness and Rural Sustainability in Moldova” announced the call for applications from farmers for consulting and technical assistance in preparing farms for certification and inspection by certifying authorities in February 2023. Presumably, 15 fruit farms will receive training seminars and other assistance. In addition, in the first half of 2023, GLOBAL.G.A.P and GRASP certificates will be received by about a dozen farms that brought their agrotechnological processes in line with the requirements of these standards last year but did not have time to complete the certification.
Project specialists believe that fruit growers should go through all stages of certification as soon as possible. That is, to obtain certificates that increase the chances of successful sales on the European market before the start of the early stone fruit ripening season. In the context of the economic crisis, any competitive advantage for fruit suppliers in the EU is even more necessary.
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This year, the project assists farmers in IFS certification, which are relatively rare in Moldova, intended mainly for traders that purchase fruits from farmers for subsequent export. Many Moldovan traders with the most extensive base for storage, sorting, and packaging of fruits already have ISO 22000 and HACCP certificates, similar to IFS Food, IFS Broker, and IFS Logistics. But in some cases, European buyers require the last three.
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