TAHA in partnership with the Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP) funded by European Union and the International Trade Center (ITC) have conducted training to Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and related stakeholders to increase awareness on Global GAP certification and its sustainability. The partnership scheme conducted in a one-day workshop in Njombe on 16th last month was graced by Njombe District Commissioner Ruth Msafiri aimed at increasing awareness on Global GAP certification and its sustainability to small-medium enterprises (SMEs) and other stakeholders interested in acquiring knowledge on compliance to market standards. In her narration, she acknowledged TAHA’s initiative in creating enabling environment for farmers to access the international market standards and also connect with a reliable market. "We've heard from our standard experts on how to get access to international markets; it's important to be aware so that we can increase our revenue collection by seeking better markets and better prices for our products,” said DC Msafiri. The training was attended by several stakeholders as well as those from the International Trade Centre (ITC), Local Government Authority, and Ministry of Agriculture, as well as commercial companies. In its progress, it discussed the sustainability of farmers to continue subscribing to standards schemes annually, how the same farmers should continue receiving technical supports for compliance to market standards. Reached for a comment, the farmers who participated in the workshop acknowledged TAHA and other organizers for recognizing them and focus on supporting them to address existing gap in the GLOBAL G.A.P that was hindering their products’ sales in the regional and international market. “I am thankful for this workshop and I have benefited from the training, because we have learnt the strategies to assist us meet standards required in avocado farming.” said Florida Mteule from Kifanya village in Njombe who is also a TAHA member. GLOBALG.A.P certification is the internationally recognized standard for farm production.
