TIRANA, October 8 /ATA/ The first national technical working group of Global for Good Agricultural Practices (G.A.P.) is established in Albania in order to support the development of standards for the expansion of Albanian agricultural exports.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in cooperation with Albinspekt bio.inspecta and with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC launched the initiative to establish a national technical working group for the implementation of the GlobalG.AP standard in fruits and vegetables “Made in Albania”.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Emira Gjeçi, present at the meeting held today in Tirana by the working group, said that “GlobalG.A.P is one of the most required standards by the markets of the European Union and beyond”.
“GlobalG.A.P in Albania is to encourage and support the actors involved through the adaptation of the requirements of the GlobalG.A.P standard with the local conditions of Albania and will also be a source of valuable information about this standard that is a passport for agricultural exports to international markets “, said Gjeçi.
The technical working group consists of 9 members: exporters, consultants certified by GlobalG.A.P, consulting company, agronomists, representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as agribusiness associations.
Today, Albanian agricultural exports go to 75 countries around the world. Agricultural exports, in total, have increased from about $ 100 million at the end of 2014 to $ 400 million at the end of 2020, and are projected to reach over $ 1 billion in the next four years.
The agricultural sector is among the sectors with the largest contribution to Gross Domestic Product, about 20%. In Albania in 2013, there were cultivated about 125 thousand ha of land, while today are cultivated 250 thousand ha of land. /j.p/r.e/p.s./
