Six new Good Practice Guides – Updates

During 2021 COLEACP is providing a team of expert consultants to support national/regional initiatives to develop Good Practice Guides for horticultural value chains. These Guides are being developed, disseminated and kept up to date by stakeholders within each value chain. They are not COLEACP publications – they are written, owned and published by the professionals, within each country/region and crop sector, who will inform and use them. Stakeholders in the sector who take on this task receive practical support throughout the process from COLEACP expert consultants.

Read more about the Good Practice Guides here. And read on to find out how the process is progressing in five countries.

Kenya

On 25 May the development of two Good Practice Guides for Kenya – for Beans & Peas, and for Avocado – was launched in Nairobi by the Principal Secretary in the State Department for Crop Development and Agricultural Research in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Fisheries and Cooperatives, Professor Hamadi Boga. Representatives from the private and public sectors created the Technical Working Group and Steering Committee needed to move the development process forward. The development of the Guides is supported by the NExT Kenya programme.

• Beans & Peas

For this Guide, three Technical Working Group meetings have been held. The Sectoral Self-Assessment Guide for beans and peas (2015) has been updated, and a survey grid and tools have been designed to enable data collection. Risk profiling has been carried out, particularly on the use of pesticides and MRLs. A draft of part A of the Good Practice Guide will be presented to the Technical Working Group in September.

• Avocado

The Technical Working Group has already met five times, and members have been allocated specific tasks relevant to their fields. Field surveys have been undertaken: two in packhouses, one in a nursery for Hass avocado, and one in an orchard. Meetings have taken place with specific value-chain service providers, including air freight and sea freight companies. The first draft of the Good Practice Guide will be presented to Technical Working Group in September.

Uganda – Capsicum

A successful launch event on 17 May via Zoom included contributions from the Permanent Secretary and the Commissioner of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), and the PS of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives. Surveys in companies have begun, and a first draft of the Guide will be presented in October. The development of the Good Practice Guide is supported by the Fit For Market SPS programme.

Guinea – Potatoes

A launch event on 13 July brought together participants face-to-face and virtually. The Technical Working Group and Steering Committee are now up and running, and grids for surveys are being finalised. A pest risk assessment (PRA) on potatoes is being conducted within the framework of COLEACP’s STDF Guinea project “Strengthening the phytosanitary monitoring and certification system in Guinea”.

Togo – Leafy vegetables

The launch event was held in Lomé on 9 July, organised by the Association of Producers, Processors and Exporters of Vegetables and Fruits of Togo (APROTELF), and supported by COLEACP’s STDF Togo project “Strengthening the phytosanitary monitoring and certification system for Togo’s fruit and vegetable sector”. The event brought together about 50 participants from different organisations, public and private. The Technical Working Group and Steering Committee have been established, surveys have begun, and a vegetable packaging protocol has been completed. The first draft of the Good Practice Guide is currently scheduled for October.

Benin – Pineapple

The first stages are in progress, involving meetings with stakeholders in the pineapple sector and the constitution of the Technical Working Group and Steering Committee. A launch event will take place by October at the latest. COLEACP support for the stakeholder-driven process is provided through the Fit For Market SPS programme.