In the palm of his hand, rural producer Geraldo Magela Gontijo DF Rural, 57 years old, can control, catalog and record the step by step of all the production on his land in the Pipiripau Rural Center, in Planaltina.
To do this, he uses the DF Rural application, created by the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company of the Federal District (Emater-DF).
Routine is essential to comply with national legislation, which makes traceability of the production chain mandatory, for fresh vegetables and fruits produced in the country.
Available Tool
The tool is available on an experimental basis for use by almost 25 thousand rural producers registered with the public company linked to the Secretariat of Agriculture, Supply and Rural Development of the Federal District.
It was developed by the Emater team in about six months, at no extra cost to the government. Although it has other functions, the main reason for its use is the requirement for traceability.
THE traceability is the set of procedures that allows the origin to be detected and monitored.
Although the movement of a product along the production chain – from planting until it reaches the consumer.
This must be done through records printed on labels, alphanumeric codes, barcodes, QR Codes or any other merchandise identification system – including those made by hand.
DF Rural
The requirement came with a Joint Normative Instruction published in February 2018, by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa). The system began to take effect gradually, according to the different production chains.
In August 2019, agricultural products such as apples, potatoes, lettuce and tomatoes became subject to inspection.
This year marks the deadline for all producers of fresh vegetables and fruits to adapt, according to the manager of the DF Rural project, Alberto Gerardi.
Although this record of the elements of the production chain has three important purposes: to comply with legislation, to use it as a form of defense, to bring the producer closer to the customer, and to improve the local business with the possibility of better management.