PROBLEMS OF THE QUALITY ASSURANCE OF AGRICULTURAL

PRODUCT AND WAYS OF THEIR SOLUTION IN BELARUS

PETR V. RASTORGOUEV* ABSTRACT Now the requirements for the quality and safety of agrarian product are increasing in the world. Taking into account export orientation of the Belarusian agrarian sector and the globalisation of the world food market, the given problem becomes very important for the republic. The priority directions of the perfection of the mechanism of quality and safety assurance of agricultural product in Belarus are shown in this article. The ways of the harmonization of the quality assurance system in Belarus according to the international requirements, as well as the directions of perfection of the regulation system of the quality and safety of agricultural product on the domestic market are shown too. Keywords: product quality, safety, standard, monitoring. 1 INTRODUCTION

The quality assurance of agricultural product in the republic is one of the most important problems. Export orientation of the agri-food sector as well as necessity of creation of the modern mechanism of quality assurance due to the globalisation, are the main causes of this situation. Now many questions remain unsolved. So, the safety control of agricultural product in the republic is carried out only according to 24 parameters while in well developed countries it is based on more than 50. The majority of the minimum quality standards for the agricultural product dont correspond with the international analogues. It considerably reduces an export potential of the branch and doesnt allow to estimate the quality level of agricultural products objectively.

Centre for Agrarian Economics, Institute of Economics, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Email: rastorgouev@yahoo.com.

Poster Paper presented at IAMO Forum 2008

In 2004 Belarus improved the legislation on standardization according to international requirements. Therefore the national system of standardization is undergoing definite changes. But the basic attention is given to the foodstuff whereas the problems of agricultural production are touched upon to a little degree. Taking into account the fact, that the foodstuff quality largely depends on agricultural raw material quality, its necessary to realize the complex of actions, the basic of which are suggested below. 2 DISCUSSION

The Program of working out the technical directives of Belarus (for the period till 2010) is adopted in Belarus. According to it working out of food safety directives began in the republic. At the same time the food safety depends on the safety of agricultural products. Working out of the appropriate documents is necessary to meet the modern requirements of the world market. Certain parameters of safety should meet the requirements of the European Union and periodically be reconsidered with the purpose of elimination of technical barriers at foreign trade relations. Taking into account a rather small number of kinds of agricultural production, which make a basis of the food safety of the republic and the export potential, it is offered to work out two basic documents: the directives on the plant growing and animal husbandry products safety. The given documents can contain: a) The exact normative requirements: the list of the controllable safety parameters of the product and their minimum safe level; b) Only the list of the controllable safety parameters of the product. The requirements for the minimum safe level are stated as references to other appropriate documents. Both variants meet the world requirements. At the first variant, the change of the minimum safe levels or the list of the controllable safety parameters causes the revision of the requirements set by the directive and their updating. At the second variant, updating is required only at the change of the list of the safety parameters. At the change of the minimum safe levels the additions are made only to the documents on which the references are made in the directives.

Problems of the quality assurance of agricultural product

Now according to the requirements of the European Union, the product exported to the given region is supervised only. The control is carried out on the basis of Programme of carrying out control over the presence of hazardous substances in live animals and animal products at exporting them to the countries of the European Union. They are worked out by the specialists of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Products and of the Quality Management Department of the Centre for Agrarian Economics (AKSYONOV et al. 2006). The given rules should become the basis for formation of the appropriate normative document for regulating the control of animal products on the domestic market as well. The safety of crop production is still supervised on the basis of the so called Management directive of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Food Products About carrying out control over the parameters of the safety of crop production. According to the given documents, the controllable parameters of the plant growing products are the following: nitrates, toxic elements, toxins, radionuclides, pesticides. At the same time, such a kind of the normative document as the departmental managing directive doesnt correspond to the world practice of the quality of the agricultural product regulation. Taking into account the fact that the new legislation has already been in use since 2005, the revision of this document is necessary because, according to the new legislation, all departmental managing directives should be gradually cancelled and replaced by the documents corresponding to the world practice and new norms of technical regulation. Observance of technology requirements is a major factor of high quality agricultural products. Therefore the standards for typical technological processes of cultivation agricultural crops and cattle and pig breeding and poultry farming are worked out and improved. The standard for typical technological processes is a normative document, which takes into account all modern achievement of the scientific and technical progress, the requirements to the most rational performance of technological processes and operations, contains controllable technological parameters, norms and levels of the quality of labour. For example, the controllable technological parameters are the optimum depth of ploughing, doses and ways of application of mineral fertilizers, depth of sowing up the seeds, etc (GOUSAKOV et al. 2005). Fulfilment of the requirements of these standards provides the planned volume of high quality production which is safe for peoples health. The standards are affirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Products.

Poster Paper presented at IAMO Forum 2008

The Quality Management Department works out these standards together with the Technological Agricultural Institutes under our management. The observance of the given standards should be stipulated in the contracts between the agricultural and processing enterprises. The obligatory appendix to the contracts should be the required technology. Nowadays the contracts, as a rule, dont contain the requirements to the technological process. As a result the risk of production of poor quality products essentially grows (RASTORGOUEV 2007). For example, Figure 1 shows the yield capacity of main agricultural crops in 2007 in Belarus and the yield capacity which can be achieved at the fulfilment of all requirements of the standards for typical technological processes. Figure 1:
60,0 60,0 55,0 50,0 50,0 47,5 40,0 37,5 30,0 34,3 30,7 28,1 20,0 22,7 24,0 21,2 15,5 10,0 13,4 5,9 0,0 Winter rye Winter wheat Spring wheat Spring barley Winter triticale Peas Winter rape Flax fibre Potatoes Sugar beet 30,2 42,5 37,5 38,7 47,5 55,0

Advantages of standards for typical technological processes

Actual yield capacity, 2007

Calculated yield capacity on the standards

Notes: Source:

Yield capacity of potatoes and sugar beet tons per hectare; other crops centners per hectare Made by the author on the basis of the data of the standards for typical technological processes of cultivation agricultural crops and the Ministry of statistics and the analysis of Belarus

Carrying out of audit of the enterprises on the ability to observe the requirements of the modern technologies is perspective. Such mechanism is necessary to apply in our country for the

Problems of the quality assurance of agricultural product

enterprises providing agricultural products for the state needs as a tool for both regulation of the quality of technological processes and the guaranteed purchase of high quality products. The results of the audit can be used for decision making on the choice of providers for the conclusion of contracts on favourable terms, advancing, subsidizing, crediting, and improving of the technological process (RASTORGOUEV 2006). Perfection of the mechanism of advancing of agricultural production should become one of the elements of the system of product quality stimulating. The volume of the advancing should depend on the level of observance of requirements to technological process. Nonobservance of the requirements and poor quality products delivery can decrease or stop the advancing. Carrying out advancing of agricultural production it is necessary to take into account the quality of products for the previous period. Such approach simultaneously will allow to stimulate the process of products quality improvement. The appropriate methodical approaches were developed in the quality management department. Determination of the basic directions of the state policy for the quality assurance and increasing of competitiveness of agrarian production assumes the expediency of the centralization of the work on the quality monitoring. At the present stage such work is practically not carried out. It is necessary, because high requirements exist in the world market in this direction nowadays. The main goals of the quality monitoring of the agricultural product are: revealing the negative tendencies timely, investigating their reasons; developing the proved offers on the perfection of quality management in certain agricultural branches; evaluation of the level of the quality of the agricultural product conformance with the requirements of the world market. comparative estimation of the quality parameters of Belarusian and foreign agricultural production for evaluation of the level of its competitiveness in the market.

Poster Paper presented at IAMO Forum 2008

CONCLUSION

The creation of an effective up-to-date system of the quality and safety assurance of agricultural product demands the development of appropriate directives and the perfection of the normative documents for carrying out control, as well as the centralization of the work on the quality monitoring. The fulfilment of the requirements of standards for typical technological processes in the agricultural production, developed by research institutes of the National Academy of Sciences, allows to increase the yield capacity of the agricultural crops in 1,2-2,2 times in comparison with the actual level. Carrying out the audit of the enterprises on the ability to observe the requirements of the modern technologies is perspective. It will allow to estimate the real potential of the agricultural enterprises, to determine the ways of increasing of their efficiency. Complex using of given offers will allow to create favorable conditions for improvement of the quality of the agricultural products, to increase its competitiveness on the agri-food market. REFERENCES AKSYONOV, A., BOUSHILO, M, ROUSINOVICH, A., PANKOVETS, E., ZUBROVSKY, D., RASTORGOUEV, P., SMOLSKAIA, R., DEREZA, E. (2006). Poriadok osuschestvleniya kontrolya za soderzhaniem vrednykh veschestv i ih ostatkov v zhivykh zhivotnykh i produktsii zhivotnogo proishozhdeniya pri exporte ih v strany EC. Vitebsk: UO VGAVM. GOUSAKOV, V.G., PROKOPENKO, N.F., KADYROV, M.A. et al. (2005). Organizatsionnotekhnologicheskie normativy vozdelyvaniya selskokhoziastvennyh kultur: sbornik otraslevyh reglamentov. Minsk: Belorusskaya nauka. RASTORGOUEV, P. (2006). Formirovanie sistemy menedzhmenta kachestva, in: GOUSAKOV, V.G., ILYINA, Z.M., BELSKI, V.I. (eds): Teoreticheskie i metodologicheskie osnovy razvitiia agrarnogo rynka Belarusi. Institute of Economics, NAS of Belarus, 181-217. RASTORGOUEV, P.V. (2007). Upravlenie kachestvom na predpriiatiiakh APK na osnove vzaimovygodnogo sotrudnichestva v usloviiakh konkurencii, in STRYCHALSKIEJ-RUDZEWICZ, A. (ed): Innowacje i jako jako czynniki konkurencyjnoci przedsibiorstwa. Uniwersytet Warmisko-Mazurski w Olsztynie, 209-215.