By Twila Wheelan
KINGSTON, Jamaica, (JIS) – The second component of the Hot Pepper Value Chain Project has played a key role in focusing on gaps in local food-safety efforts for agricultural stakeholders in five parishes.
Facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), one key aspect of the three-year project focused on the implementation of food-safety systems, specifically for the hot-pepper-producing aspect of the sector.
Quality and Food Safety Management Systems Consultant with the Project, Marshalee Valentine, noted that Food Safety Needs Assessments were conducted in St. Ann, St Catherine, Clarendon, St Elizabeth and St Mary.
“We can understand and appreciate the importance of food safety in the value chain, and multiple assessments would have been conducted across the value chain to determine the gaps that existed. Food safety compliance was seen as one of the gaps that would affect our ability to meet international market requirements,” she said.
Valentine was speaking at a recent JIS Think Tank, held at the Agency’s Television Department at 5-9 South Odeon Avenue in Kingston.
Valued at US$1 million, the Hot Pepper Value Chain Project, through Component Two, allowed stakeholders across the value chain to benefit from the results of the needs assessment for the thorough and proper implementation of the project’s initiatives.
“We interacted with farmers, processors and exporters of value-added products to determine the different gaps that existed, specific to food safety along the value chain. What we realised in the needs assessment was that there were gaps identified for infrastructure in meeting food-safety requirements, so the buildings weren’t suitable,” Valentine said.
“We realised that there are gaps on the farms. The farmers didn’t have the necessary resources to implement the food-safety requirements; they did not have the necessary specific training in food safety, so while other aspects of the project focused on developing technical knowledge, it wasn’t specific to food safety,” she added.
Food-safety requirements call for numerous facilities to be in place, including training, documented procedures, financial and physical resources.
Through the project, interventions were applied in the form of designing training programmes based on the gaps that were identified in relation to food safety.
“We had training in food safety, good agricultural practices, manufacturing practices and market access training. For sustainability, we had a train-the-trainer workshop that was designed. The content for the workshop was designed by the gaps found in the needs assessment, and that was delivered across the value chain to farmers, processors, and packing house operators; and for the farmers, we made sure that we went out to them in the field because it was easier for us to get their interest by going out in the field and meeting them where they are,” Valentine said.
For the duration of the project, 44 persons were trained through the train-the-trainer programme, and for good agricultural practices, good hygiene practices and market access, a total of 63 individuals across the value chain were trained.
The train-the-trainer programme engaged multiple stakeholders across the value chain, including farmers, processors, industry stakeholders and regulators from the Plant Quarantine Division, ministry of agriculture, fisheries and mining and Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) Officials.
“We had officers from the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) that were also involved in the trainer training, and the purpose of this was to ensure that beyond the project you would have individuals who can go out throughout the value chain and train individuals in the best practices in food safety,” Valentine said.
Meanwhile, farmers received a booklet that holds best practices in food safety. Through the project, farmers were able to scan a QR code to access the booklet on their phones through WhatsApp.
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