Good agricultural practices: an end point or a starting point for more sustainable banana production?

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) are on-farm practices to ensure food safety, low-impact use of natural resources and the safety of workers (COAG 2003). Schemes to certify GAP implementation reflect societal concerns about the safety and sustainability of how our food is produced. The food industry, advocacy groups for the environment, fair prices and consumer choice, together with the participation of governments, have put into place numerous certification frameworks for agricultural products. GAP have also been proposed to guide policies and actions for the economic, environmental and social sustainability of agriculture. In this chapter we examine the short-term nature and impact of value-chainoriented GAP in banana production and their significance for how banana production can be made more sustainable.