Trade better than aid
systems. There is another old wise saying: ‘Never put all your eggs in one basket’.
“This is very true with selling to markets. There are times when all markets expand and contract. Having multiple opportunities allows producers to spread their risks. If one market contracts, they can move products to another market,’’ he said.
‘The funds for these necessities of life must come from the trade of the produce that is surplus to their subsistence food needs’
“Enabling growers in the developing world to access the higher value markets in the developed world is an important part of the many strategies that are needed to achieve financial returns to one of the most impoverished sectors on the planet.
“Trade is better than aid in ensuring food and income security. It has the potential of being an effective poverty-reduction strategy,’’ Mr Leu said.
“The current burden of multiple organic regulations is making the trade more difficult. The higher and multiple compliance costs means that the international trade in organic products will favour the larger producers and certifiers with the economies of scale over the smaller producers who are the people who will benefit most from these markets.
“The economic return for growers has to be greater than the compliance costs of certification.
“Currently, in some markets, the burdens of the compliance costs are greater than the financial benefits and as a result we are seeing a slight reduction in the number of certified growers in these markets.
“In other markets we are seeing a slow rate of growth despite many new farmers entering certification.
“There is a turnover of growers with existing growers opting out of certi- fication because the benefits are less than the costs.
“Most of these growers are still farming using the principles of organic agriculture because the benefits of organic farming are multifunctional. At the same time we are seeing that the total number of hectares was relatively stable in the previous year, however the value of the market has increased. This shows greater productivity per hectare.
“From IFOAM’s point of view, this productivity outcome aligns very well with the concept of eco-functional intensification where improving and stacking eco-systems services into the farming systems increases yields.
“A study by two UN organisations, UNCTAD and UNEP, showed that where good organic practices were applied to ‘organic by default’ systems in Africa it lead to an average 116 per cent increase in yields in organic systems.
“This is critical to putting food on the table and providing the surplus that can be sold at market,’’ Mr Leu said. “The critical issue is that there are suitable markets.
“Bilateral equivalence between the major organic markets is a wonderful start in the process of reducing the certification compliance costs in accessing multiple markets; however IFOAM wants to see greater reforms.
“For this reason IFOAM is working with UNCTAD and FAO on the Global Organic Market Access project to make it easier for all to be involved in trade in organic products.
“IFOAM encourages governments to adopt processes and rules as efficient as possible to recognise a high number of equivalent standards and regulations as equivalent, as well as a high number of equivalent CB performance requirements. Our objective is a fully ‘regulated but streamlined’ global market access.
More BioFach events in 2013 include BioFach China (May 23 to 25) at the INTEX Shanghai Exhibition Centre; and BioFach América Latina/ ExpoSustentat, São Paulo (June 27 to 30).