Cypriot Potato Growers Receive International Certification

January 9 , 2009

After a lot of hard work and thanks to technical assistance and training provided by USAID, a Turkish Cypriot potato growers group was the first in their community to receive a GLOBALGAP certification. GLOBALGAP is a protocol that sets voluntary standards, or Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), which are applied in the growing of agricultural products. Besides recognizing improved standards in production in the Turkish Cypriot community, this GLOBALGAP certification will improve trading opportunities for producers in regional and global markets where consumers prefer GLOBALGAP-certified products.

GLOBALGAP certification guarantees that a product does not contain chemical, physical or microbiological contaminants that can cause health hazards. In addition, the certification ensures that production complies with applicable agriculture standards in the area where production takes place or in the country where the products will be consumed. As such, GLOBALGAP certified products command higher prices at the market.

The potato growers each received their GLOBALGAP certificate at an event at the Saray Hotel, on Friday, January 9, 2008. At the event, Ali Goksu of the Chamber of Agricultural Engineers and USAID Representative Alan Davis congratulated the group on their achievement and wished them continued success. The event was organized by the USAID-funded Economic Development and Growth for Enterprises (EDGE) project. Like all U.S. government programs in Cyprus, EDGE is aimed at facilitating reunification of the island, including through encouraging responsible and market-driven economic growth.