What Are Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)?

What Are Good Agricultural Practices?

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) describe a production approach in which agricultural produce is grown without substances harmful to human health, without physical residues, without adverse effects on the environment, without damage to the natural balance or contamination of the environment, and in a way that does not harm the welfare of the people and other living things involved in production. Production follows the agricultural laws of the consuming country and the growing country, with all practices recorded, audited, and certified. GAP is a voluntary standard that sets out minimum obligations matching each country's legal framework in international agricultural trade.

The pace of modern life, together with rising incomes and education levels, has made safe food consumption more important. Consumers increasingly want assurance of the safety of all food products they buy, starting with agricultural produce consumed directly. This has made it necessary to build methods and standards that reassure consumers that both primary agricultural products and processed products have been produced with care. GAP does not place extra limits on chemical fertiliser, GMO, pesticide, or synthetic hormone use directly: it records the producer and their practices.

GAP should be the minimum standard a producer follows. It is the minimum the state needs for keeping farmer records and documenting the agricultural inputs used. Without it, there is no way to trace who grew a product or what chemicals were applied.

With this aim in mind, the World Trade Organization (WTO) established an agreement covering food safety in the international trade of agricultural products under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement, to align international standards on plant and animal health. The SPS Agreement covers Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points for food, and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for production on agricultural land. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has also carried out work on GAP principles. Large-scale retailers in EU countries formed the Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group (EUREP), and in 1999 established the EUREPGAP Protocol covering GAP requirements for fresh fruit and vegetables.

Progress in leading agricultural countries has made it necessary to observe and apply internationally recognised standards in Turkey as well. With its soil, climate, and water resources, Turkey has significant agricultural potential. However, production using inherited methods, and the corresponding reluctance to take technical advice, has created problems in agricultural production. Unconscious pesticide use in particular has caused residue issues in agricultural exports.

For Turkish agriculture's future, GAP requirements need to be accepted and correctly applied by the sector, led by the agricultural advisors. Progress on GAP will give fruit and vegetable production and the wider agricultural sector a competitive position in both domestic and export markets. Safe products will reach export markets, and consumers in Turkey will also be able to buy safe, healthy products. Turkey can make the progress required in GAP through informing and training producers and agricultural engineers.

FAO describes GAP as the practices needed to make agricultural production socially sustainable, economically viable and profitable, and to protect human health, animal welfare, animal health, and the environment. The aim of GAP is production that does not harm the environment or human health. To achieve this, GAP recommends combining Integrated Crop Management and Integrated Pest Management methods in production.

In post-harvest handling and storage, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles are used to maintain hygienic conditions and prevent contamination.

As a result, produce obtained in line with GAP conditions is certified as free from microbiological, chemical, and physical residues harmful to human health, produced without environmental damage or harm to the natural balance, with no negative effects on people and other living things during production, and in line with the agricultural laws of the producing and consuming countries.