November 10, 2014

Member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have decided to adopt a policy of uniform agricultural production through the Good Agriculture Practice (GAP). Member countries will sign and begin implementing the standards in December 2014.  The standards, which will be known as SaarcGAP, are expected to help countries improve their pre and post-harvest procedures, output, and exports. The idea of adopting uniform agricultural standards came from Europe, which adopted EurepGAP in 1997 in order to standardize farm management in 1997. (EurepGAP changed its name to GLOBALGAP in 2007). Pakistan in particular has been adopting advanced laws and regulations for the improvement of its agricultural imports and exports. The country’s Department of Plant Protection (DPP) recently adopted quarantine rules for all fresh agricultural imports and exports, and has drafted new laws through Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) to increase transparency, eliminate hierarchy, corruption, and bottlenecks. The country has invested in its fruit and vegetable processing technologies and the DPP believes that Pakistan will be able to expand into developed markets once changes in approach are adopted by both growers and exporters.

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