The Argentine National Service of Health and Food Quality (Senasa) was present at V National Day of Bio- inputs, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture, which took place on May 15, 2019 at the Argentine Pavilion of the National University of Córdoba (UNC). As in 2018, the event saw a large attendance, exceeding 300 people.
The event was organized by the Argentine Chamber of Bio-inputs (CABIO), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the UNC, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences. It also had the sponsorship of Senasa, the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and other institutions of public and private nature.
On this occasion, the event also had a large participation from the private sector, both by numerous companies in the sector and by producers, who participated in a panel entitled, “Use of Bio-inputs in Extensive Crops. Experience of producers and advisors”.
Also, on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Córdoba (MAyG), Marcos Blanda, Secretary of Agriculture of the provincial portfolio, highlighted the importance of bio-inputs in the framework of the Provincial Program of Good Agricultural Practices and anticipated its incorporation into the incentive scheme for producers in the 2019/2020 cycle.
One of the most important blocks participated in the panel, “The contribution of Bio-inputs in Good Agricultural Practices”, in which Tomas Krostch (IICA), Roberto Cavallin (College of Agronomists of Córdoba), and Francisco Iguerabide (Agricultural Development Directorate) participated, along with Mariano Lattari of SENASA.
Lattari highlighted the key role of the Senasa, not only with regard to safety and quality of food and animal health and plant status, but also on the regularization of agricultural inputs.
He noted that “with regard to Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), SENASA is an executing party of Joint Resolution No. 5/2018 between the national health and agribusiness portfolios, which was established and incorporated into the Food Code, and Argentina, in Article 154 tris, the obligation to comply with Good Agricultural Practices for fruit production from 2020 and horticultural production from 2021”.
Likewise, the regulation establishes 7 minimum and obligatory requirements that fruit and vegetable producers must comply with in order to mitigate the biological, physical and chemical hazards that may be present in such products.
Among them, in order to frame the theme of the panel, stand out:
-The correct use and storage of phytosanitary products, which must be registered in Senasa.
-The correct use of organic fertilizers and amendments, which must also be registered in Senasa.
In both requirements, agricultural bio-inputs have a transcendental role in obtaining quality and safe fruit and vegetable products.
“From different sectors of Senasa, we are actively working on training both producers and future GAP implementers, in order to facilitate the incorporation and implementation of the requirements established in the reference regulations,” added Lattari.
Finally, the Senasa agent said that “without a doubt, bio-inputs are tools, on a biological basis, have a prominent role in the framework of good agricultural practices, helping to safeguard the zoophysical heritage, quality and safety of food in a productive, socioeconomic and environmentally sustainable framework”.
Source: Agropages
