Within the HORTIN-Quality project of Applied Plant Research (PPO), the Indonesian Vegetable Research Institute (IVEGRI) and the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture, a Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) is developed for the Indonesian vegetable growers. The GAP will be come part of an Indonesian certification system in which vegetable growers can step by step grow towards the Eurep-GAP.
The Indonesian vegetable growers are developing strongly, but still far away from the production standard, as set in Europe. Food safety and product quality are still major bottlenecks in the Indonesian horticulture. The bottlenecks find their origin in the insufficient knowledge level, high pesticides use and inadequate infrastructure for inspection and control.
Indonesian vegetables need to compete with imported vegetables which have a higher level of food safety and product quality. Imported products have the advantage that they are regarded by the Indonesian consumers as better products. Another development is the rise of supermarkets in Indonesia. The market share of supermarkets is still small, around 5 percent. But the market share is steadily rising. The supermarket channel is therefore a channel that is of great importance to Indonesian vegetable growers. The Indonesian vegetable growers struggle to answer to the demand of the supermarket, like high volumes, high product quality and just-in-time delivery. Indonesian vegetable growers can not answer to demands of Eurep-GAP certification of their production. The gap between the current level of Indonesian vegetable growing and Eurep-GAP is often too big. The Hortin-Quality project started as an attempt to offer a possible solution for these bottlenecks.
The Indonesian certification system tries to reduce the gap by offering certification for farmers who are doing well, but not yet good enough for Eurep-GAP. The Indonesian certification system consists out of three levels of certification. These levels are Good Pesticide Practice, Good Agricultural Practice and Eurep-GAP. In this way Indonesian vegetable growers can step by step grow towards the Eurep-GAP. The first two levels will be certified by the inspection services of the Indonesian government. Eurep-GAP certification will be carried out by private certification institutes.
The GAP has been developed by carrying out a supply chain analysis and a HACCP hazard analysis. The supply chain is mapped by a supply chain analysis. Then a hazard analysis on food safety and product quality was carried out to make sure the GAP covered all the risks. The GAP was then tested by Indonesian vegetable growers, to make sure the GAP is useable in the every day routine of Indonesian farmers. The Indonesian government is now starting up the certification activities for the first two levels.
The supply chain analysis, the hazard analysis, the test with Indonesian vegetable growers and the GAP are written down in a final report. People who are interested in the approach, the results and the GAP can download the report here.