1 / 27

Organic Agriculture: A Trade and Sustainable Development Opportunity for Developing Countries

Organic Agriculture: A Trade and Sustainable Development Opportunity for Developing Countries. Sophia Twarog, Ph.D. What is organic agriculture?. Certified organic production: over 30 million hectares, 138+ countries. Why Should Governments Care?. 4. Market failure in agriculture

gafna
Download Presentation

Organic Agriculture: A Trade and Sustainable Development Opportunity for Developing Countries

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Organic Agriculture: A Trade and Sustainable Development Opportunity for Developing Countries Sophia Twarog, Ph.D.

  2. What is organic agriculture?

  3. Certified organic production: over 30 million hectares, 138+ countries

  4. Why Should Governments Care? 4 • Market failure in agriculture • Private costs and benefits are not equal to public costs and benefits • Externalities lead to suboptimal solutions

  5. Why Should Governments Care? 5 International Assessment for Agricultural Science and Technology Development (IAASTD) Report: Over 400 experts co-sponsored by FAO, GEF, UNDP, UNESCO, WHO and World Bank Conclusion: We cannot continue business as usual

  6. IAASTD Report 6 “the way the world grows its food will have to change radically to better serve the poor and hungry if the world is to cope with growing population and climate change while avoiding social breakdown and environmental collapse.”

  7. OA as a national sustainable development opportunity • Economic benefits • Food security benefits • Environmental benefits • Social & cultural benefits

  8. Economic benefits Net income = (price x quantity) – total costs Generally, organic farmers earn more.

  9. Food security benefits • Higher incomes • Higher yields • Diversified production • Improved nutrition

  10. Food security benefits • 114 case studies in Africa conversion to organic or near organic • 116% increase in productivity • Sustainable: OA builds human, social, natural, financial and physical capital

  11. Environmental Benefits • Less pollution • Improved soil, incl. increased water retention and less soil erosion • Enhanced biodiversity • No genetic contamination

  12. Environmental Benefits, cont’d • Mitigated climate change • Reduced energy consumption • Landscape services

  13. Social & cultural benefits • Benefits for smallholders • Women’s empowerment • Builds on traditional knowledge • Reduced rural-urban migration • Improved health & safety • Community revitalization

  14. OA as an export opportunity—rapid global market growth

  15. OA as an export opportunity • Global sales growth rates at least double those of conventional food products • Acute supply shortages 2005-2008, more balanced 2009 • Developing country exports rising fast • Price premiums

  16. Regional Distribution of Organic Food Sales 2008 Region % Europe 51 North America 46 Other 3 TOTAL 2008: 50.9 billion USD ( double the 2003 value of 25 billion USD) Source: Sahota (2010)

  17. Regional distribution of certified organic production 2006

  18. Export opportunities include • Fresh and processed tropical products • Counter-seasonal fresh produce • Other products with demand-supply gaps • Ingredients for food processing industry

  19. Production challenges • Little or no government support (policies, ag extension, R&D) • Conversion period • Knowledge intensive • Sometimes lack of organic inputs • Lack of secure land tenure

  20. Export challenges OA exports must: • Meet SPS requirements in import mkt (same as for convent’l products) • Meet requirements of OA regulations & be certified by approved cert. body • Meet additional requirements of private standards (sometimes)

  21. Export challenges • Agric. Subsidies in import markets • Need for market information • Consumer preferences for local food • Lack of harmonization, equivalence & mutual recognition

  22. Recommendations to developing country governments • Assess national organic sector & policies • OA action plan • Consider supporting OA R&D, extension services, certification costs, development of domestic market, exports, harmonization

  23. Other factors contributing to success • Community organization • Group certification

  24. Recommendations at international level • Pursue harmonization and equivalence • Take into acct special conditions in developing countries • Provide market info • Support TC/CB in OA

  25. UNCTAD initiatives • Publications • UNCTAD-FAO-IFOAM Global Organic Market Access project • UNEP-UNCTAD Capacity Building Task Force on Trade, Environment and Development (CBTF)

  26. For more information www.unctad.org/trade_env www.goma-organic.org Sophia.twarog@unctad.org

  27. Thank you!

More Related