Boas Práticas

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)

The concept of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) has evolved in recent years in the context of a rapidly changing and globalizing food economy and as a result of the concerns and commitments of a wide range of stakeholders regarding food production and security, food safety and quality and the environmental sustainability of agriculture. FAO defines GAPs as practices that “address environmental, economic and social sustainability of on-farm processes and post-processes and result in safe and quality food and non-food agricultural products”.
They are thus to be considered a mean rather than an end in themselves. General principles of Good Agricultural Practices were first presented to the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG) in 2003 in the paper 'Development of a Framework for Good Agricultural Practices', the annex of which broadly outlines farm-level GAP recommendations in ten fields among which natural resource management, crop and animal management and landscape conservation. Starting from this framework, detailed management guidelines can be prepared for individual systems within specific agro-ecosystems so that to develop tailored practices within a local context and a farming system.

THE GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES DATABASE

Within the ‘Food We Want’ project, a database (DB) has been designed to include the different GAPs gathered through a literature review analysis and a field activity.

All the GAPs in the DB below are simple methods used by smallholder farmers in the three countries involved in the study (Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique) to increase farm productivity by, at the same time, preserving the natural resources.

They are classified into 7 categories dealing with animal husbandry, pest and crop management, seed system, water management, soil management, farming system and the market.

Furthermore, each technique is associated with a series of tags referring to specific themes; the country of origin (Kenya, Tanzania or Mozambique) and the field of research (literature review or in-field) being specified for all GAPs.

USE THE BUTTONS AND THE KEY WORDS BELOW TO NAVIGATE IN THE DATABASE