FRUITHORTICULTURE-GUIDE – TELAM Agency
The National Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (Sagyp), in technical cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Ministry of Agrarian Development of the Province of Buenos Aires (MDA), launched a Guide for Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Markets and Good Practices for losses, with the aim of having a solid and practical instrument to face the challenges in the field of wholesale markets to achieve viable and sustainable solutions.
During the opening of the event, held at the “2 de septiembre del Pilar” Cooperative Market, the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Juan Manuel Fernández Arocena, stated that “this guide is a contribution to food security in the population and allows us to measure the problem and from there obtain a diagnosis and act so that the change we are looking for finally occurs”, highlighting the work carried out by the Directorate of Value Added and Quality Management of Sagyp with the organisms involved.
“Maintaining public policy over time with public-private participation enhances the collective effort and generates new opportunities,” highlighted Fernández Arocena at the event that was attended by representatives of important allied organizations such as Senasa, INTA, the Ministry of the Environment, Flama, Fenaomfra, among others, recorded a statement from Sagyp.
In this sense, the Guide proposes an approach based on the circular economy to improve the prevention, use and use of fruit and vegetable products, promotes the modernization of markets and promotes progressive solutions to integrate inclusive and innovative marketing processes in accordance with the possibilities of each market, and with benefits for the entire community.
In the agri-food value chain of fresh products, fruit and vegetable wholesale markets have the essential function of ensuring the supply, in quantity and quality of fruits and vegetables, added to the role they present at the social and economic level of strengthening regional economies and communities. and in this way, contribute to the promotion of healthy eating.
The added value of the Guide is that it can be applied to different food supply spaces such as fruit and vegetable markets, regardless of their size, number of transactions or structure, and in the same way, it can be used by producers, merchants and consumers. since it offers management tools towards the progressive implementation of solutions, according to the possibilities of each market, and with benefits for the entire community, the Sagyp statement specified.
“The idea is to replicate the experience that we carried out in Buenos Aires in markets of neighboring countries in Latin America. For this reason, together with FAO and Flama, we have been working with the objective of making visible, analyzing and sharing different experiences and the strategic role that wholesale markets play. in local development”, argued Javier Cernadas, chief of staff of the Undersecretariat of Agrarian Development and Food Quality of the MDA.
On behalf of the Pilar Cooperative Market, President Calixto Contreras highlighted the effort they have been making to improve loss management, for example the alliance with Banco de Alimentos for donations about six years ago, as well as the recent composting project that It has made it possible to reduce the number of waste containers generated by 80%.
Source: Ambito
