Adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in the Philippines: Challenges, issues, and policy imperatives

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) refer to approaches which address the sustainability of on-farm processes to ensure safety and quality of food and non-food agricultural products. These approaches aim to capture new market advantages by (1) modifying supply chain governance; (2) improving natural resource use, workers’ health, and working conditions; and (3) creating new market opportunities for farmers and exporters in developing countries. While other countries in Asia such as Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand have already implemented national GAP certification for many of their commodities, GAP certification in the Philippines is still in the infancy stage.