The Government of Mauritius was developing and implementing a voluntary Green Agricultural Certification and eco-labelling scheme known as MauriGAP to motivate the supply of safe and high quality locally produced food while promoting more sustainable crop production. However, to motivate sustainable food supply, the government initiative was not adequate, and the market pool needed to be enhanced to motivate planters to practice more sustainable agricultural practices.
Following a call for expression of interest from University of Mauritius in 2017, A. Chinatamby Co. Ltd; a major buyer of horticultural products in Mauritius, committed to take part in a pilot project to implement sustainable supply chain management, hotspot analysis and green marketing, and to support a pool of current supplier planters in the implementation of MauriGAP.
Mr Vikash Mungry, a horticultural farmer in Rodrigues supplying fresh vegetables to the company was among the selected suppliers.
The Promoting Sustainable Local Agriculture through Green Retail and Green Hospitality (SUS-AGRI) project was intended to promote sustainable local food production in Mauritius by leveraging the channel power of the retail & hotel sector to drive sustainable food consumption and production, add value to local food and improve livelihood of small holder farmers.
Chinatamby requested the support of University of Mauritius to engage local farmers, and who doubled as her suppliers. The university first conducted farmer profiling based on the MauriGAP checklist to identify all practices which needed to be improved and all documents which were needed to improve the administration of cultivation; an important requirement for MauriGAP certification. An action plan was then developed based on the profiling. A project assistant helped the farmers to develop all the documents and documented all registers of agro-chemicals used and prepared the application of MauriGAP-certification.
“We save on the pesticides we do not use as much. We also use clean river water to clean our vegetables like carrots, “Mr. Mungry said. “Most of the farmers purchase MauriGAP certified products because they know farmers are not using so many pesticides and therefore healthy for them.”
The training course on MauriGAP aims to promote responsible and professional sustainable production practices and attitudes and to ensure the production of safe food within a sustainable framework. The Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) are agricultural production management principles promoting environmental sustainability, reducing the use of chemical inputs and ensuring a responsible approach to worker’s health and safety and welfare. The duration of training is 3 sessions of 3 hours, normally spread over 3 weeks, taking into account the learning aptitudes of planters and promoting discussions on the practical implementation of the standards.
Mr. Mungry participated in sessions on MauriGAP and on pesticide use which was delivered by the Food and Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (FAREI). The pesticide training course inculcate the required competence through imparting the right attitude, relevant knowledge, and develop the range of skills and practical methods that are needed with respect to pesticide application. Both MauriGAP and pesticide training courses are approved by Mauritius Qualification Authority and trainees completing the course are awarded an attendance certificate. The course of five sessions takes three hours for each session.
Mr. Mungry already possessed some good agricultural practices, but further improved them following the training. He implemented a system to prepare his seedlings instead of purchasing and selecting the seedlings which would require lesser agrochemicals. He also learnt how to calibrate the sprinklers for the different applications of agrochemicals. With this, he was able to reduce the consumption of agrochemicals. He also developed a plan for crop rotation to improve the land biodiversity.
“I have two daughters and I always teach them about the environment so that they can have a better future,” Mungry adds.
Due to this training by SWITCH Africa Green programme, the farmer was able to shift to the use of less toxic pesticides. Other farmers were provided with health and safety gear for safer use of agrochemicals with better facilities being provided for potable water, toilet and bathroom. All workers were trained on safe use and handling of pesticides. With the calibration of the sprinklers the consumption of agrochemicals was reduced.
