Promotion of GAP
State of GAP in Japan
Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) is a set of management activities of agricultural production process to ensure sustainability in agriculture by five components, namely food safety, environmental conservation, worker safety, protection of human rights, and farm management. There are two steps in GAP activities. The first step is “implementation of GAP.” At this step, farmers implement GAP by themselves according to GAP standards. Basic activities of “GAP implementation” are, firstly to keep things neat and tidy, and secondly to keep records in daily activities on farm. “GAP implementation” contributes to better farm management, including the improvement of its efficiency. For example, the stock of fertilizers and agrochemicals in warehouse could be reduced by proper inventory management thorough GAP activities. Moreover, GAP activities will create a sense of responsibility and self-initiative to the staff of farms. The second step is “acquisition of GAP certification,” where the implementation of GAP by the farmers is audited and proved objectively by a third party institution. “Acquiring GAP certification” by farmers will develop the channel to new clients by ensuring the credibility of their products. It should be well noted that farmers should take this step under their decision making process, based on the situation of their farm management. In Japan, GAP certification programs are taken initiative by the private owners of GAP programs, namely GLOBALG.A.P., ASIAGAP, and JGAP. Concerning GAP certified farmers in Japan, there are currently 7,977 in total: GLOBALG.A.P. 794, ASIAGAP 2,253, and JGAP 4,930, respectively (Note).
(Note) the data for GLOBALG.A.P. is as of the end of December 2021 and those for ASIAGAP and JGAP are the end of March 2022, respectively.
Promotion of International-level GAP
The Number of GAP certified farmers in Japan was increasing due to the GAP promotion policies towards the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, where these GAP certifications were adopted in its sustainable codes for agricultural products. After the Tokyo 2020 Games, the Government of Japan has continued to take GAP promotion policy by stipulating it in the Basic Plan for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas decided by Japan’s Cabinet in March 2020. Subsequently, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) formulated “Policies to Promote International-level GAP in Japan” in March 2022 to achieve the goals set out in the Basic Plan. At the same timing, MAFF published “Guidelines on International-level GAP” in March 2022, aiming at harmonizing GAP activities at prefectural level into the Guidelines made up based on the three GAP certification programs disseminated in Japan. MAFF also communicates that implementation of “International-level GAP” by farmers will contribute to achieving SDGs.
