The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in cooperation with the Standardization, Metrology and Certification Agency of Uzbekistan (UzStandard) published a comprehensive manual for Uzbekistan’s farmers and agri-firms that will help them compete in international markets by adopting good agricultural practices in line with the international GLOBALG.A.P. standard. GLOBALG.A.P. is the world's largest agriculture certification program, setting criteria for agribusinesses and minimizing the risks of tainted food entering world markets.
USAID’s manual is one of the first GLOBALG.A.P. manuals in Russian and covers all requirements related to fruit and vegetable production, post-harvest handling and packaging to help agribusinesses in Uzbekistan and neighboring countries implement requirements at the farm level. It will serve as a guide for Uzbekistan’s exporters to meet international quality and food safety requirements to sell produce to global markets at premium prices. The manual is available in print and electronic versions.
Gary Robbins, Director of USAID Central Asia’s Uzbekistan Country Office stated: “Meeting the demands of international markets starts with improving the quality of horticultural production. This manual will be a lasting resource for Uzbekistan’s agribusinesses to upgrade practices, improving the safety and quality of produce available for Uzbekistan’s consumers and allowing businesses to enter higher value global markets.”
Since 2015, USAID has promoted the adoption of the GLOBALG.A.P. standard in Uzbekistan in collaboration with UzStandard, the agency responsible for setting and enforcing standards across all sectors. In 2020, UzStandardis tasked with the ambitious goal of implementing the GLOBALG.A.P. standard on 155 farm enterprises—in 2019 four farm enterprises in Uzbekistan were certified. USAID supports this goal by making available accredited resource materials, consulting and audit services to improve Uzbek agribusinesses’ ability to access and afford international standard certification. USAID supported the training and certification of 56 GlobalG.A.P. farm assurer consultants in Uzbekistan, 16 of whom work for UzStandard, and supported a local consultant to become the first ever GLOBALG.A.P. Licensed Farm Assurer in Central Asia, one of only 74 worldwide and the only one who speaks Uzbek. One of the most significant remaining challenges for Uzbekistan’s agribusinesses to meet GLOBALG.A.P. standards is understanding the criteria and having a written reference tool to guide farm operators on the on-farm do’s and don’ts.
