Delegates strongly welcomed the Tour 2015 event in South Africa. "The GLOBALG.A.P. TOUR 2015 Stop in South Africa was an excellent networking opportunity for sharing industry challenges and solutions relating to the integration of small-scale emerging farmers into commercial supply chains," stated James Lonsdale, National Fresh Produce manager, Spar Group South Africa.
The event opened with a welcome address by Guy Callebaut, chairman of the GLOBALG.A.P. Board Germany, and vice-chairman of BelOrta, the Belgian fruit and vegetables producers auction and VBT, the association of Belgian Horticulture Cooperatives, Belgium.
Mishinga Seyuba Kombo, from the Pick n Pay Enterprise and Supplier Development programme, delivered the keynote speech. This Pick n Pay programme provides mentorship, guidance and business development support to entrepreneurs and small and emerging businesses that would like to supply products or services to Pick n Pay. The division mandate is to support, sustain and scale businesses. Currently, the localg.a.p. Program is part of this project.
"It was a great honor to share what Pick n Pay is doing to help build capacity for smallholder farmers," said Kombo. "Our core focus is to support, scale and ensure that any project we get involved in is sustainable in the long run, because we firmly believe that doing good is good business. We are confident that the future looks very bright with more of these smallholder farmers having access to resources that help them lay the foundation to implement good farming and agricultural practices which ultimately ensure their sustainability."
Les Hillowitz from CropLife Africa Middle East updated delegates on the container management project in Africa. He emphasised how important GLOBALG.A.P. is for the industry and that the GLOBALG.A.P. Standard has tremendously helped their industry to improve container management in many regions.
Rodger Smith from the Language of the Wilderness Foundation Trust presented a few case studies of producers in the Langkloof area. By farming more sustainably, these GLOBALG.A.P. certified producers have made sure that they can become more economically viable, and ensure farming as an option for their children and their children's children.
Delegates also learned about the new version 5 of the GLOBALG.A.P. IFA Integrated Farm Assurance Standard (IFA V5). Dr. Elmé Coetzer-Boersma, GLOBALG.A.P. vice president/head of standards highlighted some of the most important updates of the new version and its impact on farmers.
Mike Newton from IPL South Africa closed the event by emphasising how the implementation of Good Agricultural Practices can increase food security sustainably. IPL wants to support GLOBALG.A.P. to extend its coverage in countries that currently have a low percentage in terms of compliant farms.
To learn more about GLOBALG.A.P. TOUR 2015 and find an event coming to your region, visit www.tour2015.org.
