In 2006, the ASEAN Member Countries prepared and adopted a set of voluntary standards
for good agricultural practices which will be applied during the production, harvesting and
postharvest handling of fresh fruits and vegetables. This set of standards were developed
based on the criteria, specific situations and experiences of implementing national Good
Agricultural Practices (GAP) programs in Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Moreover, it drew from certified GAP systems and guidelines from other countries and
regions.
The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint provides for the enhancement of intra-
and extra-ASEAN trade and long-term competitiveness of ASEAN’s food agriculture
products. One way of achieving this is through the establishment of national GAP programs
within the region by 2012. Considering the existence of regional ASEAN standards for GAP
and the Philippine commitment to the region, the Department of Agriculture (DA) anticipated
the need to harmonize the Philippine National GAP standard with that of the ASEAN GAP.
It is within this premise that a Technical Working Group (TWG) was established to come-up
with the Revised Code of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for Fruits and Vegetable
Farming that is basically harmonized with the ASEAN GAP and other internationally existing
GAP standards (i.e. EUREPGAP, Freshcare of Australia etc). The TWG created was
composed of technical experts from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), Bureau of
Agricultural Research (BAR), Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), Philippine Center for
Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), Bureau of Soils and Water
Management (BSWM), Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA), University of the Philippines
Los Banos – Crop Protection Cluster (UPLB) and Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries
Product Standards (BAFPS). The TWG, through several meetings and a workshop was able
to prepare a draft revision of the standard for presentation in public consultative meetings in
order to gather comments from other stakeholders, before the same will be finalized and
adopted as Philippine National Standard (PNS).
The practices in the said Code of GAP are aimed towards prevention and minimization of
risk occurrences which include those of food safety, environmental impact, worker health,
safety and welfare, and product quality. It is envisioned that compliance of farmers with this
set of practices will empower them towards reducing the impact of global challenges, like the
demand for food safety and introduction by other governments of stringent legal and
technical requirements for food safety, to agricultural and environmental sustainability.
This standard cancels and replaces PNS/BAFPS 49:2007.
