My name is Rachel Zedeck, Director of Sustainable Programs for Control Union from Holland, currently based in Kabul, Afghanistan. We are a certification body who support food safety programs in 61 countries. In reference to extension and "access to markets": While many programs/teams focus on accessing export markets, we regularly advocate for prioritizing local and regional trade. When export production is appropriate with a business model that generates sustainable income and good corporate governance, we find that producers and processors are then confused and challenged by both the technical implementation and costs of commercial certification programs. This is especially for fresh fruit and vegetables and other cash food crops like coffee, tea and dried nuts. In response and in partnership with GeoPoll in the United States, we are launching an education and survey tool developed for the mobile phone specifically supporting smallholder farmers and compliance with food safety certifications like Global G.A.P. and Organic - most applicable for the EU but also for Japan, Dubai and even Russia. I would like to hear from any other professionals working with food safety certifications. In addition, we are actively seeking projects to develop pilot programs, at no charge, in the following countries; Afghanistan, Kenya, Ghana, Philippines or Indonesia [Anyone interested, please contact Rachel directly...Moderator]. Rachel Zedeck Director, Sustainability Programs Kabul, Afghanistan Kenya Mobile +254 (0) 729 498179 Afghanistan Mobile +93 (0) 788 662982 Skype: Rachelz007 Email: Rzedeck (at) controlunion.com Control Union Inspections (Pvt) Ltd. Certifications & Commodity Inspections www.controlunion.com [To contribute to this conference, send your message to [log in to unmask] For further information, see http://www.fao.org/nr/research-extension-systems/res-home/news/detail/en/c/264776/ ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the RAS-L list, click the following link: https://listserv.fao.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=RAS-L&A=1