ITC project partners in Ukraine are preparing for certification according to Global G.A.P.

Consultants of the International Trade Center project in South Ukraine continue to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the fruit and vegetable sector in the implementation of Global G.A.P standards in the process of producing their products.

In September 2017, an international certification consultant for Global G.A.P. Kliment Petrov visited several companies in the south of Ukraine and conducted pre-audit. After that the enterprises began work on the “road map”, drawn up for them.

The National Consultant of the ITC project in Ukraine, Vladyslav Faleev, described how the “Melnyk” and “Vladam” farmers are preparing for the certification of Global G.A.P. and what are the benefits of this a certificate.

“Establishing Global G.A.P. standards includes several hundreds of points: the correct flow of documents on land use, mapping, analysis of water, soil, sanitary books, recreation areas, sanitary facilities and many others. At first, we introduced our partners with these requirements, then they wrote a road map for their implementation. In the future, we check the implementation of these items and in June we plan to invite an international consultant for certification Global G.A.P. Kliment Petrov, who will make another one audit. This should be the last check, after which it will be possible to invite Global G.A.P inspectors for carrying out the final audit”, said Vladyslav Faleev.

“The certification process takes place during the harvest. At the moment, farms are in different stages of the implementation of the road map. For example, “Melnyk” builds a warehouse for the storage of fertilizers and chemicals. It is a time consuming and costly process. But the construction is at the final stage. “Vladam” is in the process of preparing the workflow, but many items have already been completed. In general, we are going according to the plan, and in September-November we have to be prepared”, continues Vladyslav Faleev.

It is important to understand that the certificate Global G.A.P. receives not the company, but the process of production of certain products. The farm may have part of a certified production, and another part is not certified. However, the benefits of certification are evident, notes the national consultant of the ITC project.

«The Global G.A.P. certified is certainly good step for any producer of agricultural products. It gives a competitive edge and increases consumer confidence. But the main thing is certification helps to bring order in the production process. This is a good reason for households to do what they need, but what they didn’t reach. And first of all, this order and transparency are needed by the companies themselves to make the right managerial decisions and control the entire production process. Even if farms rethink to certify, they are already raising their level in the very process,” says Vladislav Faleev.

Global G.A.P. is a system that guarantees the safety of grown products. The main difference of the Global G.A.P. from other standards it’s estimated both by the safety of the grown products and the safety of the entire production cycle, starting with fertilizers, sowing material and ending with finished products. Global G.A.P. – it is the only integrated standard for primary products with the possibility of using its individual modules for different product groups. Global G.A.P. certifies that certain products are high quality and completely safe to use.

The project “Linking Ukrainian SMEs in the Fruits and Vegetables Sector to Global and Domestic Markets and Value Chains” aims to help Ukrainian enterprises from Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions to integrate into domestic and global value chains and access new markets, with a focus on the EU. The Project is funded by the Government of Sweden and the International Trade Centre.