Agricultural sector needs to 'focus on higher standards, safety'

[webfact]

Agricultural sector needs to 'focus on higher standards, safety'

By The Nation

 

 

The government should establish standards for good agricultural practices (GAP) in order to enhance exports of agricultural products and ensure food safety, the Thai Agricultural Innovation Trade Association (TAITA) has suggested.

 

The association's director, Woranika Nakwachara, said that TAITA aimed to elevate Thai agriculture to international standard, collaborating with alliances which would share new knowledge, innovations and technology so that agriculture can become sustainable and be able to compete globally.

 

Thailand itself is aiming to be “the world’s kitchen” and the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry is planning to increase food safety and organic products which require GAP that the Department of Agriculture is working on.

 

The project, however, still needs more personnel and the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards has not approved GAP for the private sector yet.

 

Moreover, Thailand’s GAP is not accepted by the international markets and it is the government’s task to elaborate on it so that the country has food security and can export to other places around the world, she said.

 

TAITA is now collaborating with the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade in instructing farmers to learn how to grow keeping in mind the safety of the environment and consumers. "Eat Safe, Live Safe" also has been introduced to raise awareness on safe food consumption.

 

Chemical fertilisers are also another topic that have to be dealt with as Woranika said that pesticides and fertilisers were in the production process and natural substances could barely substitute the role they played.

 

“The ban on paraquat and chlorpyrifos might push away ‘the world’s kitchen’ goal but meanwhile glyphosate usage is limited and entrepreneurs cannot access it as the Department of Agriculture did not give permission or allow any kind of registration before June 30,” she said.

 

“The private sector will definitely sue the department since they could not continue the businesses including for domestic sales and exports.”

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30392050

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-07-28

 

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[djayz]

I can't help but think that one of the best ways to help the farming community would be to reduce, or better still, eliminate, the import taxes slapped on modern, efficient farm machinery imported into the country. The end price tag is prohibitively expensive for the average person trying to make a living from the land. As more and more people abandon this way of life in search of comfy jobs in the city, the strain on the farmer to grow, care for and harvest their crops grows. It's a labour intensive sector.  

Edited July 28, 2020 by djayz

[hotchilli]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

The association's director, Woranika Nakwachara, said that TAITA aimed to elevate Thai agriculture to international standard, collaborating with alliances which would share new knowledge, innovations and technology so that agriculture can become sustainable and be able to compete globally.

Which you would think would be the normal practice.... 

[Grumpy John]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand itself is aiming to be “the world’s kitchen”

Really!   Well Makro and Co will need to carry a lot more MSG,  Salt and Sugar to fill the demand. Maybe saying 'the world's unhealthiest food producer' would be more to the point. 

[Puccini]

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should make more tests of products in the market to enforce the ban and limited use of pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals.

 

For export shipments, the FDA should do tests to ensure that that the limits of chemicals in force in the destination countries are not exceeded.

[Venom]

They could start by reducing the horrendous air pollution and hazardous 2.5 PM levels caused by field burning six months of the year to the detriment on millions of poor peasants merely to increase the profits of a few multinational Sino/ Thai business conglomerates. ????????????

[Redline]

10 hours ago, Puccini said:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should make more tests of products in the market to enforce the ban and limited use of pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals.

 

For export shipments, the FDA should do tests to ensure that that the limits of chemicals in force in the destination countries are not exceeded.

Never happen-the government does little testing.  It’s usually private organizations, or universities that find poisons and toxins