Organic produce growing in China,
India By Sanjay Suri
LONDON -
China and India are emerging as new giants in
production of organic food, United Nations experts
say. As European Union countries switch to more
organic foods for value addition, the two
developing Asian giants and also nations in Latin
America are beginning to catch up. But it might be
too soon to fear any agricultural trade wars now
in organic produce.
"China and India have a huge
potential to tap domestically to begin with," said
Mattia Prayer-Galletti, country program
manager
for
Asia with the International Fund for Agriculture
and Development (IFAD). The Rome-based
organization is a specialized agency of the United
Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in
developing countries.
At the moment IFAD
is trying to "increase the space for organic
farming as much as possible", Prayer-Galletti
said. Organic farming eliminates use of chemicals
as fertilizers and pesticides. That means largely
a return to natural and traditional methods of
farming.
Given the rapidly growing demand
for organic food in Western markets, organically
grown food, which usually fetches a 20-40% premium
over other produce, represents a new opportunity
for small farmers for whom a lack of means to buy
fertilizers and pesticides can be turned into an
advantage. Difficulties arise, however, by way of
certifying such produce and then marketing it,
even within the domestic market in the developing
countries. This is where IFAD is looking to
promote organic produce.
One way to
promote organic farming is by "carefully
integrating the private sector to provide
marketing services", an IFAD report on Asia says.
"Organic farming is running into
technological, intellectual and cultural
barriers," Prayer-Galletti said. "On the one hand
you have biotechnology, and at the same time
governments are committed to increasing
production, neglecting the interests of small
farmers," he said.
The primary IFAD
objective in promoting organic farming is as a way
of lifting multitudes of small farmers out of
poverty, now that their limitations have the
potential of becoming an opportunity.
"Many farming communities are producing
organic food without being aware that they are,"
Prayer-Galletti said.
Organic farming
could also create new jobs in rural areas and help
reduce urban migration, IFAD says. Such farming is
becoming more organized in India and China, "which
together host more than half the world's farming
households", an IFAD report says.
Apart
from the smaller farmers, who cannot afford
intensive farming methods, commercially oriented
farmers are seeing new market opportunities in
certified organic products. The value of Chinese
organic produce exports grew from less than US$1
million in the mid-1990s to about $142 million in
2003 with estimates for 2004 of nearly $200
million, and more than 1,000 companies and farms
certified, IFAD says.
"In China, organic
farming offers the potential for sustainable
poverty reduction," Thomas Rath, IFAD country
program manager in China, said in a statement.
"IFAD will be supporting pilot programs in China
to refine this approach for further upscaling in
the future."
In India, there has also been
remarkable growth, but primarily in the domestic
markets, with about 2.5 million hectares now under
organic certification and 332 new certifications
issued during 2004. Currently more than 26 million
hectares of farmland are under organic management
worldwide, but that is believed to be just 1-2% of
all agricultural production.
It is a
growing business. Global organic sales have
achieved double-digit annual growth for more than
a decade, and in several European countries
organic farms are approaching or even exceeding
10% of total farmland, IFAD says. In 2005, the
estimated market value of organic products
worldwide was close to $30 billion, with the
largest share being marketed in North America and
Europe.
Developing farmland communities
will be vital to developing the organics market,
IFAD experts say. This will help reduce the cost
of certification, and improve prospects of
marketing, they say. IFAD conducted a similar
study between 2001 and 2002 in six Latin American
and Caribbean countries (Argentina, Costa Rica,
the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and
Mexico). IFAD is supporting new programs for the
rural poor in Pacific Islands states, and says it
hopes to expand these activities.
