Advantages of Good Agricultural Practices

• SWAGATA SETH

Good Agricultural Practices

History

The U. S in 1998 issued a guidance under which the contamination of fresh fruits and vegetables and how to reduce it was given by Food and Drug Administration was there. (USDA, 2011). In 2002 GAP was established by the agengy which are existed so they donot require any reauthorization. ( National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, 2014)

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Good agricultural practices have main points of food safety with the points like harvesting, transportation of products and advice the grower to implement the general recommendation of adopted the best management practices( Sudheer & Indria, 2007). Good agricultural practices are the practices which are used for the good economic conditions and also social conditions as well as it encompasses environment al issues for the commercialisation and good market value of horticultural and agricultural products also it tries to give good quality food which is healthier, safer, nutritious to the consumers( The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2012). Good agricultural practices also includes non-food products as well as processing foods. These practices make the food more safe from consumption point of view(Anonymous, 2008). Farming practices includes a very large scope of good agricultural practices at different at different levels. In these practices sustainable agriculture methods are also included(TNAU, 2015).

Rules and regulations for the good agricultural practices includes a huge number of activities which may include from the product which are in the farm at cultivation stage, then it also includes the fields the polyhouses, type of fertilisers, seeds which is used then irrigation facilities, pesticides, composting, then interculture operations and then harvesting and also the process which are done outside the fields, like the processing of the products or the products may go through a long distributing channel which includes the middleman, producer and various agents, retailers upto the consumer that is the consumption point(Watts, 2012).

Objectives

Good agricultural practices needs to keep a proper record of the production process or the technologies which is required for processing or for harvesting of each crops for the areas which are very much good or important agricultural based and ecological regions, and to collect and then plan and the execute then the final process of distribution the knowledge in that major regions (ANONYMOUS, 2015).

Good agricultural practices is required for the following reasons

There may be contamination in the products which may be biological like fungi, bacteria, viruses, attack when the products are in the field or they are brought to home, although washing, cleaning and cooking can kill the pathogen but if consumed raw then harm can occur (Eaton& Watson, 2012).

Some of the important factors which should be keep in mind for Good agricultural practices.

1. Washing of products :-

a) Washing of products are necessary to remove the dust particles, chemicals, soil pathogen, microorganisms with fresh water( Srivastava & Kumar, 2009).

b) Clean and fresh water is necessary when tanks are used. Paddle conveyor washers and rotary machines are used for washing(Gupta, 2015).

2. Cleaning: cleaning is a practice where the unwanted materials are removed which may be the green, yellow brown, dead insects soggy parts of fruits or other undesirable items either by hand picking or mechanically( Sharma, 2009).

3. Sanitation:-is necessary to prevent the promotion of diseases from one item to another, also chlorine is used of 100-150 ppm to prevent the spread of pathogen( Kitinoja & Kader, 2003).

4. Transportation:-highway trailers is oftenly used in transportation of fresh products ( Vigneault, 2015). It is an intregal part of post harvest handling and distribution is done through railway tracks, airplane, trucks. ventilation during the cool time in night and refrigrirated automobiles results in good preservation. ( Peter, 2009)

5. Manures:-By the process of exposing the manure to higher temperature and by aerobic compost method microbial attacks can be minisime. After applying the manure in the field cover it with some plastic cover or grasses or mulches to get rid from physical contamination(Ellis, 2004).

6. Water:- The draining facility and pesticides loss by running off should be checked and soil salinization should be checked. (Anonymous, 2015). By irrigation water contaminations can be there back to the fruits and vegetables and also surface water is more contaminated( Sudheer and Indira, 2007). Drip irrigation Should be restricted and it not only saves water pollution but also good quality of products can be achieved(Singha, 2013).

7. Equipment and Employee hygiene:-employee hygiene is very necessary as because many contaminations may take palce through this so proper handling of crops, hand washing equipments cleaniness, fresh dress, adequate washroom facilities, using soaps etc(Chapman, 2015).

8. Pesticides or herbicides: Some herbicide is having stimulatory effects on the plant pathogens and reduces or promotes the diseases severity. Proper understanding of effectiveness pattern of pesticides and effects with pathogen will give the proper use of pesticides( Devi, 1987). Surveillance and monitoring of pesticides residues should be recorded to keep the products free from contamination(Sudheer & Indira, 2009).

9. Post harvest handling:-the things which are required after harvesting the crops like transportation, equipments, cold storage etc packaging materials(Jayachandhran, 2005). Flower life can be increased by adopting new technologies at right time, with proper length and storage technology, pulsing with sugar(Bhattacharjee, 1999). Application of calcium based chemicals increase the post harvest life reducimg the handling losses of crops by minimizing the rate of respiration(Jayachandaran, 2005).

Benefits of Using GAP

Proper adoption and managing of GAP increases the quality of the products and also raw foods, pr processed foods. this GAP also helps for sustainable agricultural and also the environment(Akkaya, & Yalcin, 2015).

Hurdels Of GAP

There are many hurdles related to GAP like increases in production cost, because of keeping databases for various govt. Schemes which are available and the schemes and procedures which are followed in the farmers. The farmers do not know property about the various measures or step that should be taken as GAP and also about the Technologies( Tilman & Kenneth, 2008 ).

Conclusion

So i have concluded that good agricultural practices are important for the most important thing that is human health followed by the ecocomic value of the products. And all the main factors should be always kept in mind as without this the possibility of contamination of food increases.

Bibliography

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