good agricultural practice

GOOD AGRICULTURE PRACTICEs

SAURABH UPADHYAY

• Application Practices that:

– Improve safety & efficacy

– May be generic or specific to application method, chemical

• Developed by registrants, growers, applicators, and EPA

• Many already on labels

• Must document in Fumigant Management Plan and/or Post Application Summary to show compliance

What are GAPs

GAP – Why?• Consumption of fresh produce steadily

increasing for health.• Increases in the number of produce

associated with food borne disease outbreaks in the country.

• A variety of fruits and vegetables implicated--domestic and imported

• Pathogens normally associated with animal origin on fruits and vegetables

Why have GAPs…?• Ensure that all applicators follow the

same standards

• Reduce potential for:

–bystander & handler exposure to emissions from soil fumigants

–accidents

• Improve efficiency of soil fumigation

Good Agricultural Practices:

• Minimize exposure from emissions• Increase safety and efficacy of

applications• May be generic, or specific to a

chemical or application method • Many on labels as recommendations,

more will be mandatory• Must be documented in FMPs and/or

post-application summaries

Big challenges for agriculture ?

• Improve food security• livelihoods• Satisfy increasing demands for safe and nutritious food and other products• Conserve the natural resource base

The million dollar question is…

How to make agricultural systems

in developing countriesmore sustainable, in a

globalizingworld where food supply chains

are ever more competitive ?

Compulsory rules of the GAP Conditions for application of fertilizer near

water courses. Crop rotation. Animal density. Capacity and construction of manure storages. Periods when the application of fertilizer is

inappropriate. Establishment of fertilization plans. Rate and uniformity of spreading fertilizer and

livestock manure. Construction of shallow dug wells for drinking

water. Use of plant protection products.

1. Conditions for application of fertilizer near water courses

• When catchment area ≦10 km2, width of the protective strip at streams and ditches should be:– 1 m - when stream side slope is ≦ 5o;– ≧2.5 m - when stream side slope is 5-10o;– >5 m - when stream side slope is >10o.

Water protection strip

Compulsory ruleCompulsory rule

• In farms, having more than 15 ha of agricultural land, 50% area should be covered by winter crops;

• In hilly areas erosion preventive measures should be implemented:– On slopes ≅ 5 perennial grass have to cover ≧35-

40% of the total crop rotation area;– On slopes 5-7 - perennial grasses have to cover

at least 50% of the total crop rotation area;– On slopes 7-10 - the area of perennial grasses

has to cover at least 65-80%;– When slope is 10-15 only perennial grasses have

to be planted.

2. GREEN COVER AND CROP ROTATION


• Animal density should not exceed 1.7 animal units per hectare of agricultural land;

• When animal density is higher, one should procure additional land or to sell excess of manure to other farm, where animal density is less than the norm established.

3. ANIMAL DENSITYCompulsory ruleCompulsory rule

AU is equal to 100 kg of N ex storage in manure per year including N left on pasture during grazing period

AU is equal to 100 kg of N ex storage in manure per year including N left on pasture during grazing period

• Manure storages should be constructed in the farms keeping more than 10 animal units, except farms keeping animals on deep litter;

• To establish manure storages on farms keeping from 10 to 300 AU within 8-year period after entering the EU;

• All the farms with more than 300 AU should establish manure storages within 4-year period after entering the EU

• Manures storage should be of such size that could contain livestock, horse and sheep manure of 6 month, whereas pigs and poultry – 8 month.

4. CAPACITY AND CONSTRUCTION OF MANURE STORAGES

Compulsory rule

Compulsory rule

5. PERIODS WHEN THE APPLICATION OF FERTILIZER IS INAPPROPRIATE

• Manure and slurry should be spread during warm season: from 15 March to 1 December.

• In some cases, when there is no snow and the soil is not frozen, it is allowed to spread manure in cold season.


6. Establishment of fertilization plans

• All farms having more than 150 ha of agricultural land should establish fertilization plans for all crop fields.

• Fertilization plan should take into account: soil type, soil conditions, slope, climate, crop rotation, desirable yield, nutrient storage in soil, soil pH, requirements of special land use conditions.

• Records on fertiliser use should be kept in farm record book.


• The amount of livestock manure applied each year, including manure left on fields after grazing, should not exceed the equivalent of 170 kg of nitrogen per hectare of utilised agricultural area;

• Solid manure should be incorporated into the soil within 6 hours after application.

7. RATE AND UNIFORMITY OF SPREADING FERTILIZER AND LIVESTOCK MANURE


• Dug well should be established in such a way that surface water or snow would not get into it;

• 70-80cm around the well 1.5 m depth clay layer should be temped down adding 20 cm gravel layer above.

• Should not be any farm buildings, field toilets, slurry pits, manure piles, storages of fertiliser, pesticides and oil products as well as greenhouses and intensively fertilised kitchen gardens upstream ground water flow to the well;

• Width of a dug well protective zone from living house 7m, outhouse or greenhouse 10m, barn and manure storage 25m. Dug well protective zone should be covered by grass.

8. Construction of shallow dug wellsCompulsory ruleCompulsory rule

• Only pesticides that are registered is allowed to be use.

9. Use of plant protection products


Developments in Agriculture Sector• ‘Demand’ by consumers, retailers,

processors -Food safety, quality, nutrition -Environmental impact of agriculture• ‘Supply’ by farmers who adopt practices -Improve livelihoods• ‘Support’ by governments and institutions -Sustainable agriculture policies -Research, extension, education, credit, infrastructure

“Global Principles of

GAP”• Form 11 components of agri.

Practices.• Identify hazards to be avoided.• Identify outcomes to be promoted= Provide a basis for the development

of codes of practice for individualproduction systems.

The 11 components

• Soil• Water• Crop and fodder production• Crop protection• Animal feed and livestock production• Animal health• Animal welfare• Harvest and on-farm processing and storage• Energy and waste management• Human welfare, health and safety• Wildlife and landscape

Lessons learnt - Strategy

• Be strategic: some crops have more impacts

and potential than others.• Focus on improvement: better, not best agricultural practices; encourage

innovation, not compliance.• Focus on the most serious impacts: soil

erosion, effluents, habitat conversion. 8-10 activites. cause most environmental impacts

• Be open: not enough effort made to collect/adapt lessons from around the world

Where could a GAP approach bemost useful ?

• “From the top”: when private company wants to improve its GAP standards in a meaningful way.

• “From the bottom”: help farmer groups integrate markets (technical advice on practices and managerial advice on commercialization)

• “Support level”: help interested govt. understand implications, define policies and build capacity.

Conclusion : key words !

• GAP : Old wine in new bottles ? Orworking better together? … It’s about INTEGRATION• Win-win situations for consumers, marketsand farmers. It’s about NEGOTIATION• Ultimately, a matter of policy choice for

govt’s, minimizing trade-offs. … It’s about SELECTION• Practical, flexible approaches in GAPWorkshop … It’s about IMPLEMEN TATION

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Simple assumption…Good production

practicesat farm level can

make ahuge difference..!

Education

good agricultural practice