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Providing
technical
assistance to
our growers and
monitoring their
operations is
key to assure
consistent
quality
products.
Furthermore, we
focus our
activities in
the farms on
food safety,
farm monitoring
and tracking &
tracing.
Quality
circle team
Our technical
teams work
closely with our
growers ensuring
continuous
improvement with
the quality of
our bananas. In
coordination
with the
growers, we have
set up our
Quality Circle K
(Kaizen). The
group consists
of technical
experts from
cooperatives and
NEH, discussing
the best ways to
address problems
on farm
productivity and
quality.
Together we
conduct weekly
meetings to
discuss market
feedbacks and
apply basic
tools and
techniques to
identify,
analyze, and
solve quality
issues in their
work area.
Food Safety
The growing
health
consciousness of
the global
consumer has led
to stricter food
safety of our markets.
Recently,
government
regulatory
authorities in
Japan
established MRLs
(Maximum Residue
Levels) or
tolerances as a
check for
compliance with
approved Good
Agricultural
Practices (GAP)
and to
facilitate
international
trade. However,
we have
acknowledged
that stricter
quality control
throughout the
value chain is
not only needed
to deliver
consistent
quality
products, but is
also
contributing to
consistent
volume.
Currently, we
are evaluating HACCP (Hazard
Analysis and
Critical Control
Point) programs
to comply to
food safety
standards.
Farm
monitoring
At the moment,
we conduct
regular
interactive
field walks to
address concerns
of our growers
related to
banana cultural
practices. Next
year, we will be
implementing a
farm monitoring
system, which
will provide us
with information
on the growers’
management of
their crops. We
can use the
results to
benchmark the
productivity
performance of
our growers as a
way to learn
from the
differences in
management. This
will help us
develop
performance
indicators that
we can use to
classify our
growers. |
