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International magazine for the organic sector
Citation preview
Who Made your clothes?
Brazil and the World Football Cup, how does this affect organics?
ecology AND
No 3 // November 2013
SUSTAINING SOIL FERTILITY
EMPOWERING SMALLHOLDERS
Organic growth in Belgium
Certification body
FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTInspection and certification of products, systems and services
Drafting of standards
Training
A WORLDWIDE NETWORK OF EXPERTSName and seal recognized by authorities and consumers
Expert in organic farming and inputs, food quality and safety, fair trade, organic cosmetics, organic textiles, carbon balance, social responsibility
Ecocert SA - BP 47 - 32600 L’Isle-Jourdain - France - T +33 (0) 5 62 07 34 24 - www.ecocert.com
Tableof Con
tents
NOVEMBER 2013 // NR 3
COTTON 8 Who made your clothes? Where do our clothes come from?
AGRiCulTuRe12 Empowering smallholders A key for the future of agriculture
WORlD16 Brazil and the World Football Cup, how does this affect organics? BioBrazil Fair-Biofach 2013 took place during the month of protest
SOil22 APPROACHES AND THEIR WIDER APPLICABILITY Sustaining Soil Fertility
AGRiCulTuRe26 Productivity and profitability of organic agriculture in East Africa Comparing organic farming systems
COuNTRY RePORT30 Organic growth in Belgium
After a period of stagnation the Belgian organic sector
has once again started to grow
AND mORE.... Editorial 5 News 6 Calendar 34 Contact 34
9x5cm_Final.pdf 1 5/28/13 2:22 PM
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5ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
Denise Godinho Peter Brul
INTRODuCTION
I don’t want to bother you with the troubles of running
a magazine nowadays. Times are not only difficult for
magazines, but for many companies. But in this case,
it is also linked to the question how well the organic
movement is.
The market for media and especially printed media
is extremely difficult and changes drastically. People
do not want to pay anymore for subscriptions and for
advertisements. Partly that is caused by recession,
another (more structural) impact comes from internet.
You can get everything for free on internet. People,
including organic decision makers, read less and less
background articles and favour short, fast and posi-
tive stories about ‘the latest news’.
The assumption that there is a global organic move-
ment and market (which is the basis for a global
magazine) is wrong. There are only local organic
movements, which act local and think local. They are
not interested in news and background articles from
elsewhere. The global movement, interested in global
issues, is just a very small group. What Tip O’Neill,
the former Speaker of the U.S. House said about poli-
tics, counts also for organic: “All organics is local.”
The organic sector is since around 20 years used
to be a donor and government darling. Apart from
the commercial things and part of the certification ,
everything was always subsidized, there is no culture
of paying for information. Companies in the organic
industry believe they have a good story that genera-
tes so-called free publicity. In their opinion, adverti-
sing is for products without a good story, like Coca
Cola, Mercedes and Rolex. And when they advertise,
it is with consumer goods, focussed on consumers,
not B2B. Another reason why they might not adver-
tise is, because many of the organic producers, pro-
cessors and traders are in a bad shape. The market
and the production is growing, but increase of turn-
over comes from newcomers, with heavy pressure
on prices and profit. Everybody tries to reduce costs
where possible.
Organic has become a real industry with a serious
and a growing turn-over, where millions of people are
working. But organic is also a movement to renew
agriculture, focussed on improvement of the agricul-
tural methods itselves, on socio-economic results,
impact on nature and environment including (agro)
biodiversity, food security and food quality. More and
more consumers in a growing number of countries
are convinced of these qualities of organic produc-
tion. But I have the impression that the link between
the industry and the movement (the ideals) is getting
weaker. Certifiers guarantee for the consumers that
the products meet the standards, governments make
the rules. The link between the governments, the
industry and the consumers is becoming more a pro-
fessional semi-bureaucratic organisation, less a kind
of movement with ideals. It is getting more and more
professional, but the soul is getting thinner. Maybe I
am wrong, or I exaggerate. But it is definitely true that
the times for an international magazine on organic
movements and markets are changing. It is not easy,
but exiting.
Your reactions are, as always, appreciated.
Peter Brul, editor in chief
All organics is local?
6 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
REGISTRATION NOW
OPEN FOR THE ORGANIC
WORLD CONGRESS
Registration is now open for the 18th
Organic World Congress taking place
October 13-15, 2014 in Istanbul.
IFOAM Affiliates benefit from a 20%
discount on 3-day tickets. To ensure
you receive this, please send a mail
to [email protected]. You will
then be sent a link with which you
can complete your registration. More
information on registering can be found
here. We look forward to greeting you
in Istanbul!
IFOAM PARTICIPATION IN THE UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE
NEGOTIATIONS - COP19, POLAND
At the COP19 in Warsaw, IFOAM
informed international and national
decision makers of the multiple bene-
fits of high-sequestration organic agri-
culture for climate change resilience,
food security and sustainable develop-
ment.
IFOAM was proud to have a chance to
host a side-event during the negotiati-
ons on transforming farming systems
for food & climate security & sustaina-
ble rural development together with the
Environmental Defense Fund on Friday
15th November. More information can
be found on www.ifoam.org.
In addition IFOAM was one of the
organizers of the Global Landscapes
Forum, which was held on the sideli-
nes of the negotiations to develop the
potential of the landscape approach to
inform future UNFCCC agreements
and the achievement of the propo-
sed Sustainable Development Goals.
IFOAM partnered with the Research
Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL),
Biovision Foundation and the Millen-
nium Institute to co-host an event that
explored the international, national and
local policies and initiatives required
to enable equitable and resilient sustai-
nable rural development and realize
the right to food at the landscape and
community levels – especially for vul-
nerable people.
The IFOAM lead event featured a
range of key stakeholders including
IUCN, UNCCD and FAO.
How economic growth has become anti-life
BY VANDANA ShiVA
An obsession with growth has eclipsed our concern for sustainability, justice and human dignity. But people are not disposable – the value of life lies outside economic development
Limitless growth is the fantasy of econo-
mists, businesses and politicians. It is seen
as a measure of progress. As a result, gross
domestic product (GDP), which is supposed
to measure the wealth of nations, has emerged
as both the most powerful number and domi-
nant concept in our times. However, economic
growth hides the poverty it creates through
the destruction of nature, which in turn leads to
communities lacking the capacity to provide for
themselves.
The concept of growth was put forward as a
measure to mobilise resources during the second
world war. GDP is based on creating an artificial
and fictitious boundary, assuming that if you
produce what you consume, you do not produce.
In effect , “growth” measures the conversion of
nature into cash, and commons into commodi-
ties.
Thus nature’s amazing cycles of renewal of
water and nutrients are defined into nonproduc-
tion. The peasants of the world,who provide 72%
of the food, do not produce; women who farm
or do most of the housework do not fit this para-
digm of growth either. A living forest does not
7ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
Newscontribute to growth, but when trees are
cut down and sold as timber, we have
growth. Healthy societies and com-
munities do not contribute to growth,
but disease creates growth through, for
example, the sale of patented medicine.
Water available as a commons shared
freely and protected by all provides for
all. However, it does not create growth.
But when Coca-Cola sets up a plant,
mines the water and fills plastic bottles
with it, the economy grows. But this
growth is based on creating poverty
– both for nature and local communi-
ties. Water extracted beyond nature’s
capacity to renew and recharge creates
a water famine. Women are forced to
walk longer distances looking for drin-
king water. In the village of Plachimada
in Kerala, when the walk for water
became 10 kms, local tribal woman
Mayilamma said enough is enough.
We cannot walk further; the Coca-Cola
plant must shut down. The movement
that the women started eventually led to
the closure of the plant.
In the same vein, evolution has gifted
us the seed. Farmers have selected,
bred, and diversified it – it is the basis
of food production. A seed that renews
itself and multiplies produces seeds for
the next season, as well as food. Howe-
ver, farmer-bred and farmer-saved seeds
are not seen as contributing to growth.
It creates and renews life, but it doesn’t
lead to profits. Growth begins when
seeds are modified, patented and gene-
tically locked, leading to farmers being
forced to buy more every season.
Nature is impoverished, biodiversity
is eroded and a free, open resource is
transformed into a patented commodity.
Buying seeds every year is a recipe
for debt for India’s poor peasants. And
ever since seed monopolies have been
established, farmers debt has increased.
More than 270,000 farmers caught in a
debt trap in India have committed sui-
cide since 1995.
Poverty is also further spread when
public systems are privatised. The pri-
vatisation of water, electricity, health,
and education does generate growth
through profits . But it also generates
poverty by forcing people to spend
large amounts of money on what was
available at affordable costs as a com-
mon good. When every aspect of life
is commercialised and commoditised,
living becomes more costly, and people
become poorer.
Both ecology and economics have
emerged from the same roots – “oikos”,
the Greek word for household. As long
as economics was focused on the hou-
sehold, it recognised and respected its
basis in natural resources and the limits
of ecological renewal. It was focused
on providing for basic human needs
within these limits. Economics as based
on the household was also women-
centered. Today, economics is separated
from and opposed to both ecological
processes and basic needs. While the
destruction of nature has been justified
on grounds of creating growth, poverty
and dispossession has increased. While
being non-sustainable, it is also econo-
mically unjust.
The dominant model of economic deve-
lopment has in fact become anti-life.
When economies are measured only in
terms of money flow, the rich get richer
and the poor get poorer. And the rich
might be rich in monetary terms – but
they too are poor in the wider context
of what being human means.
Meanwhile, the demands of the cur-
rent model of the economy are leading
to resource wars oil wars, water wars,
food wars. There are three levels of
violence involved in non-sustainable
development. The first is the violence
against the earth, which is expressed
as the ecological crisis. The second is
the violence against people, which is
expressed as poverty, destitution and
displacement. The third is the violence
of war and conflict, as the powerful
reach for the resources that lie in other
communities and countries for their
limitless appetites.
Increase of moneyflow through GDP
has become disassociated from real
value, but those who accumulate finan-
cial resources can then stake claim on
the real resources of people – their
land and water, their forests and seeds.
This thirst leads to them predating on
the last drop of water and last inch of
land on the planet. This is not an end
to poverty. It is an end to human rights
and justice.
Nobel-prize winning economists Joseph
Stiglitz and Amartya Sen have admitted
that GDP does not capture the human
condition and urged the creation of
different tools to gauge the wellbeing
of nations. This is why countries like
Bhutan have adopted the gross national
happiness in place of gross domestic
product to calculate progress. We need
to create measures beyond GDP, and
economies beyond the global supermar-
ket, to rejuvenate real wealth. We need
to remember that the real currency of
life is life itself.
This article has originally been posted on theguardian.com at November 1, 2013
8 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
The textile industry has a long history of changing only when
forced to by a crisis or disaster. The latest being the tragic
Bangladesh Rana Plaza factory collapse in April where over 1,000
workers lost their lives. However, unlike previous displays of
procrastination and attention diverting tactics, a substantial num-
ber of retailers and brands reacted quickly to ensure action was
indeed taken. A coalition of 70 leading clothing brands, retailers
and trade unions backed by the International Labor Organization
and the IndustriALL and UNI global trade unions has announced
the next steps for their precedent-setting, five-year Accord on
Fire and Building in Bangladesh.
We saw a similar response by the industry to the recent exposé
by Greenpeace. The Detox campaign was launched in 2011 to
Where do our clothes come from? And do we really want to know? Liesl Truscott, Farm Engagement & European Director at Textile Exchange, says that if the public response to the recent Bangladesh disaster is anything to go by, many more of us do care and expect our clothing retailers to care too!
expose the direct links between global clothing brands, their sup-
pliers and toxic water pollution around the world. The campaign
exposed the toxic discharges resulting from textile dying and
other manufacturing processes and challenged global sportswear
brands to champion a “toxic-free future”. Since then, some of the
world’s largest fashion retailers have committed to build a road-
map to Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC).
Twenty years ago we were forced to acknowledge the damage
and lives lost through pesticide use and abuse in cotton cultivati-
on. The Environmental Justice Foundation exposed the ecological
and human rights disaster of Uzbekistan’s cotton industry, inclu-
ding child and forced labour and the devastation of the Aral Sea.
Also in the late 80s legendary ethical fashion heroine Katharine
Who Made Your Clothes?
Where do our clothes come from?
BY lieSl TRuSCOTT
Lilipiache Organic Cotton lingerie www.lilipiache.com
9ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
COTTON
Hamnett (awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth in 2011) told us we
had “blood on our hands” due to the amount of deaths and des-
truction caused by chemical use in the cotton industry.
Despite this awareness raising and industry exposure the domi-
nation of our capitalist system and consumer appetites for con-
sumption means that industry and consumer behaviour is very
slow to change.
But is change starting to speed up?
Fast forward to 2014, April 24th to be exact and we will see our
first Fashion Revolution Day. The aim of the event is to encourage
transparency, and connect wearers to the origins of their clothes
– in particular the people behind the production.
Among the many challenges facing a more sustainable textile
industry, knowing where to start is often the biggest! The textile
value chain can be long and fragmented. Many retailers and their
customers are often so far removed from the origins and impacts
of production that it’s extremely difficult for companies to market
and build a thriving business that incorporates sustainable prac-
tices.
But of course we cannot knowingly accept any more Bangladesh
or Uzbek disasters... or for that matter the multitude of human
suffering and ecological degradation that remains invisible to the
fashion shoppers.
Organic – A Beacon For The Industry
For the past eleven years, we at Textile Exchange (TE) have been
contributing to the knowledge and awareness-raising of the
benefits of organic cotton. Textile Exchange’s Farm Hub is the
epicentre of the work in organic cotton. The philosophy of organic
offers us a holistic and integrated approach to value chains where
people and the environment are respected. This philosophy and
the four guiding principles (health, ecology, fairness, care) develo-
ped by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Move-
ments (IFOAM) provide the basis of an organic practitioner’s work
ethic and relationships with suppliers, customers, and the Earth.
But of course we need more than a definition to prove the worth
of organic as the beacon of sustainability. We need quantitative
data, particularly from the farms – where the water use, land use,
and impacts of climate change are felt most keenly - to support
the move by businesses to invest in organic.
There are a growing number of indices and rating systems in
development these days; creating a demand for sustainability
data. Impact assessment and Lifecycle Inventory data are increa-
singly being used to drive the textile industry towards investing in
more sustainable raw materials, more resource efficiency and less
hazardous processes, and pushing organizations and companies
to better quantify performance improvement.
C&A’s Water Footprint The C&A Foundation, the fashion company
C&A, and the Water Footprint Network (WFN) have just published
two new, trailblazing studies on the sustainable use of water, and
on C&A’s own water footprint along the international value chain
for the manufacture of cotton products.
The studies showed that with conventional cultivation, the grey
water footprint of cotton is about five times larger than if an Who Made Your Clothes?
10 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
organic method of cultivation is used. A primary contributor to
the bigger water footprint was the use of chemical pesticides on
conventional farms. For C&A, these studies have confirmed the
benefits of a move to organic cotton and shows that the water
footprint of conventional farming can be reduced through impro-
ved farming practices.
PumA Lifecycle Inventory for Organic Cotton Cultivation
in India Earlier this year, PUMA, PE International, and Textile
Exchange collaborated to produce a life cycle inventory (LCI) for
organic cotton cultivation in India. This project was based mainly
on the PUMA value chain and sourcing regions. The results
showed that water consumption in organic cotton was 18 times
lower than for conventional cotton, energy demand was 72 per-
cent lower and Global Warming Potential was 40 percent lower
for organic cotton than for conventional cotton.
much of these results were underpinned by the pioneering
work by Trucost and PumA on Environmental Profit & Loss,
which not only revealed that the most significant impact of textile
production occurs at “farm level” i.e. textile raw material produc-
tion, but also put “natural capital” and “ecosystem services” on
the radar for the industry. The study showed that if monetized,
over half (57 percent or € 83 million) of all PUMA’s environmen-
tal impacts are associated with the production of raw materials
(including leather, cotton and rubber).
Some companies are leading the way on transparency. The
Pi foundation (the charity arm of UK brand Pants To Poverty) is
leading a project where Pants to Poverty is opening itself up for
external scrutiny with complete transparency (financial, environ-
mental and social) throughout the value chain from seed to post
consumer disposal or upcycling. Pi foundation has assembled an
inspirational international network of leading experts to develop a
framework and methodology to measure, communicate and allo-
cate a value to the 3 dimensions of profit generated by its under-
wear brand. All of the research, assumptions tools and methodo-
logies will be made available, open source, for others critique it
and build consensus around true corporate profitability.
Revolutions ... and Collaboration... We need Both
Alongside the number of campaigns driving industry manifesto’s
and accords, and the great progress made by our “trail blazers
and pioneers”, there are a growing number of multi-stakeholder
platforms and consortiums developing within the textile industry.
These networks, based on pre-competitive collaboration, provide
enormous opportunities for driving widespread industry-led chan-
ge and growth towards a more sustainable industry.
For example:
The uK Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP) Companies
representing more than a third of UK clothing sales have signed
up for the SCAP 2020 Commitment to measure and report on the
environmental “footprint” of clothing throughout its life, and to
take action to reduce the impact.
Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is an industry-wide group
of over 100 apparel and footwear brands, retailers, suppliers,
nonprofits, and NGOs working to reduce the environmental and
social impacts of apparel and footwear products globally. The
focus of the SAC is to create and implement an index (Higg) to
measure the environmental and social performance of apparel
and footwear products.
Rana Plaza showed that companies can come together to colla-
borate and raise standards in the supply chain, to recognize their
responsibilities to the people who make their products, and come
out from behind the veil of anonymity that too many have hidden
behind for too long. The integrated approach of organic – taking
into account environmental, social and economic factors – offers
the best hope that we can to build a better textile industry and
avoid further tragedies.
Textile Sustainability Conference
Join us in Istanbul, an amazing international city, for our global
annual conference with a theme of “Sustainability: The Future
is Now - Unifying Our Industry through Integration and Collabo-
ration”. 2013 promises to be the most interactive and solution-
focused conference to date.
The 2013 Textile Sustainability Conference will bring together
industry stakeholders with the intent to share, listen, learn and
develop scalable solutions over three exciting days. These indu-
stry leaders are working alongside TE staff to develop interactive
sessions and topics that involve and meet the needs of the entire
value chain from raw fiber and chemical inputs to dynamic busi-
ness models that change the role of the consumer.
Figure 1: PUMA Environmental Profit & Loss reveals hot
spots at “Tier 4”
11ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
In addition to the main conference sessions, TE will host the
pre-conference 2nd Annual Organic Cotton Roundtable on
November 11. At last year’s Round Table meeting in Hong Kong
two task forces were established: (1) reinvigorating the business
investment model and (2) investing in and securing seed availabi-
lity. A third area of opportunity was identified (3) consumer aware-
ness – a vital part of the success story for the entire value chain.
We look forward to sharing with you the progress we have made
during 2013, and discussing next steps for 2014.
About Textile Exchange
Textile Exchange is a global non-profit organization that conve-
nes networks and acts as a catalyst to accelerate sustainability
across the textile value chain. Textile Exchange (TE) is the go-to
resource for organizations and brands from all over the world who
are working towards textile sustainability.
TE develops and manages textile content standards to safeguard
industry integrity and transparency. TE works diligently with orga-
nic farmers, providing improved access to stable markets, sustai-
nability education and business opportunities.
TE educates people from the farms, mills, factories, brands and
retailers about why organic and sustainable fibers are cleaning
up our planet. TE creates partnerships between companies of all
sizes to encourage solution-based interactions and is committed
to accelerating sustainable practices in the textile value chain
in order to create material change, restore the environment and
enhance lives around the world.
TE is led by a Board of Directors, consisting of fifteen members
from eight countries representing the supply chain, and is sup-
ported by an Advisory Council. The organizations home office is
in the US and the work towards TE’s mission is accomplished
by twenty staff from nine countries. In 2011, Textile Exchange
Europe was incorporated as a registered public charity in the Uni-
ted Kingdom.
Highlights from the Farm Hub
Farm & Fiber Report (latest edition now out!)
Collaborate Learning Series
Organic Cotton Round Table
Future Shapers
Organic In Action
Find A Producer
Learning Journey
World Environment Day
12 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
Empowering smallholders
BY GeRAlD A. heRRmANN AND milDReD STeiDle
A key for the future of agriculture
Smallholders play an essential role in food production and food security, in sustaining rural economies and as stewards of biodiversity. The FAO estimates that about 1.5 billion men and women farmers are working on more than 400 million small-scale farms of less than two hectares.
13ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
‘Accreditation Requirements for Bodies
Certifying Organic Production and Proces-
sing’ which forms part of IFOAM’s norms.
In 2003, IFOAM submitted a ‘Position on
Smallholder Group Certification for Orga-
nic Production and Processing to the EU’.
This document showed the consensus
reached by the global organic sector on
ICS requirements and resulted in the EU
recognising group certification, largely
accepting all the criteria established by
IFOAM. In 2004, IFOAM published a
training kit on ICS for smallholder group
certification (another output of the consul-
tation process). These materials are still
key resources for anybody involved with
group certification.
In 2008, IFOAM organised a debate
around the topic ‘Group certification, who
should be eligible?’ This debate gathered
input from the European pilot project ‘ICS
in the North’ and from ongoing discussi-
ons in the US about the acceptability and
scope of group certification. At this time
IFOAM took a proactive position towards
the US national Organic Standards Board
which was challenging the acceptance
of group certification in the US organic
system. The result was the continuation
of group certification in the US organic
scheme, albeit with some adjustments to
the original practice.
The current situation
Today, group certification is a powerful
tool that helps smallholders to become
organically certified and provides them
with access to global organic markets and
the benefits these bring.
The concept is accepted by relevant
regulations; but has never formally been
integrated within any of the regulations.
Instead, the concept has been recognised
through inclusion in the guidance notes
of, for example, the EU Organic Regulati-
on and the U.S. National Organic Program
(NOP).
Fair Trade, UTZ Certified, GLOBAL G.A.P.
etc.).
The group certification concept
Various groups and certifiers voluntarily
developed group certification systems
in order to reduce the costs and time
involved in certification, some even before
governmental organic regulations were in
place. These systems ensure compliance
with organic standards and require groups
to implement an internal control system
(ICS) operated by a central body of the
group. This central body is responsible for
ensuring that the applicable standards are
complied with, for implementing the ICS
and for co-ordinating the marketing of the
group’s produce.
When an ICS is in place, a group is con-
sidered as a single production unit. Provi-
ded that the ICS functions well, the third
party certification body is able to inspect
and certify the group as a whole, issuing
one single certification for all individual
producers as well as for the collective pro-
cessing and handling activities operated
by the group. Individual group members
cannot use the certification independently;
so centralised marketing of the group’s
produce is essential.
Milestones in the development of ICS
The group certification system started in
the 1990s. Smallholders in developing
countries began to co-operate with cer-
tification bodies to develop systems to
assure compliance with organic standards
for producers as a group. The international
farmers’ organisation Naturland and IMO
(the Institute for Marketecology) are the
pioneers of this approach.
Later on, IFOAM came to play a key role
in harmonising the concept of group
certification and ICS, through extensive
consultation with the global organic move-
ment in the 1990s and the early 2000s.
Group certification is regulated by a speci-
fic set of requirements, set out in IFOAM’s
AGRICuLTuRE
These small farmers mostly supply
local and regional markets. By orga-
nising themselves in groups they can
improve their access to local as well as
national and international organic markets.
Today, grower groups are major suppliers
of products such as coffee, cocoa, tea
and more. Markets and consumers in
the North depend on these smallholder
groups, who benefit from participating in
global organic markets. Although there is
a lack of market statistics to substantiate,
for example, how much organic coffee
is produced by self-organised grower
groups or contract farming, it is known
that a large proportion of organic coffee is
produced and marketed in this way. If the
market access of such grower groups was
to be restricted it is likely that there would
be a substantial decline in the availability
of organic coffee in the main consumer
markets.
Restrictive norms and regulations are a
burden for small scale farmers
It is imperative that small-scale farmers
are not marginalised and unduly excluded
from the organic sector by factors bey-
ond their control. Third party certification
systems can be a burden on small-scale
producers and innovation with a focus on
cost efficiency can help to improve their
situation.
Organic regulations require all certified
operators to undergo at least one inspec-
tion a year, carried out by a third party
inspection body. This applies equally to
any operation, whether large or small, and
whether in the North or South. In develo-
ping countries there is often no local orga-
nic inspection body and even where there
is such a body available, the costs for
certification can still be too high for small-
holders to afford. This rigorous certifica-
tion system is costly and time-consuming
and excludes individual small producers,
especially those in developing countries,
from participating in organic markets (and
others with sustainability criteria, such as
Continuous efforts are needed in order to
maintain the group certification option in
the future. While it is important to lobby
regulatory bodies on this issue, the real
challenge for stakeholders is the effective
and harmonised implementation of ICS
systems in line with the group certification
requirements.
Challenges
The implementation of a group’s ICS is a
demanding task and involves several key
challenges, including:
• reliableimplementationofthegroup’s
internal functions and procedures,
which must conform to the requi-
rements of the relevant regulations,
standards and the third party certifi-
cation body involved
• comprehensiveandtransparent
administration, including the ability to
retrieve documentation from indivi-
dual members of the group
• thecomprehensiveapplicationofthe
workflow of internal control, certifica-
tion and corrective actions and other
internal procedures.
It has been observed that there are great
differences in groups’ performances in
these respects, as well as in the practices
of the certifiers of groups. Critics of ICS
rightfully complain about this. There is
lack of consistency in the control measu-
res applied by, and to, organised groups
implementing an ICS. Often, a group can-
not supply a complete internal farmer’s
list and there is a lack of consistent infor-
mation about things such as an individual
farmer’s certification status, the respective
crop area, the estimated harvest and even
the date of the last internal inspections.
This has led the two main regulators (the
NOP/ EU) to increase the percentage of
external re-inspections, which has resul-
ted in an additional financial burden. It
has even led to discussions (in the lead
up to the revision of the EU regulation)
about whether to eliminate the option of
the grower group ICS system entirely.
These are alarming signs as raising costs,
or even the complete loss of the grower
group certification concept, would make
it far harder (or in the latter case virtually
impossible) for small-scale farmers to
access organic markets
Closing the gap
Various organisations, including IFAD,
FAO, UNEP and development and export
agencies, are taking very welcome and
concrete steps towards supporting small-
scale farmers. However, more activities,
and especially instruments, are needed
to create sound and stable groups that
can provide support in developing reliable
access to relevant markets.
This is where a new initiative comes
into play, one which aims to close this
gap. Organic Services, an international
consultancy, in combination with the
certification body CERES, has developed
‘Group Certification (GC) Management’ a
tool for professionalising small farmers’
organisations. Other certification bodies
(including the Instituto Biodinamico, the
IMO and the Naturland Association) have
also participated in its development. GC
Management supports self-organised
groups and businesses working with small
producers on a contract farming basis to
better manage their ICS.
GC Management builds on Ecert® – a
generic and modular workflow based
audit, certification, customer relationship
management and management tool for
certification bodies, which is widely used
around the globe. The software has been
simplified to create a lighter version that
is suitable for use by groups and more
affordable. Its development has been (and
is being) supported by a public-private
partnership co-financed by DEG (Deut-
sche Investitions und Entwicklungsge-
sellschaft mbH), a German development
finance institution. CG Management was
launched at BioFach 2013 and has since
been applied in different places around
the world.
Functionalities and benefits
GC Management facilitates groups to
meet the complex administrative and
documentary requirements of various
standards by focusing on the workflow of
the internal control process.
All the internal procedures and data are
managed by an efficient database, which
includes reports, e.g. lists of farmers and
crops and corrective actions, as well as
data about exports that make it easier
to provide the external certifier with the
information required. This system helps
avoid problems with loss of data or retrie-
val of paper documentation and ensures
that the data are kept up to date and
available at any time. This helps avoid
the group management system being
compromised when, for example, admi-
nistrative personnel or officers change,
thereby increasing the group’s stability
and reliability, helping to contain or even
lower costs.
GC Management is multi-lingual, and can
be globally accessed through the internet.
No installation is required. The system
is updated regularly and offers multi-
standard inspection checklists showing
the control points/ indicators for the main
organic standards (e.g. those of the EU,
the US and Japan, Naturland, Biosuisse
and Demeter) and sustainability criteria
(e.g. the Sustainable Agriculture Network
(SAN), Fair Trade, UTZ Certified, GLOBAL
G.A.P). Additional standards and langua-
ges can easily be added in the future.
Global implementation needs local partners
Implementation of GC Management is
through local or regional implementation
partners (IPs), or, where no IP exists,
directly by Organic Services. The IPs sup-
port the grower groups, and provide them
with training (they themselves are trained
and assisted by Organic Services). IPs
are the best vehicle for guaranteeing fast
service and support in the local language
and also have more detailed knowledge of
local conditions.
The United Nations General Assembly has
declared 2014 to be the ‘Year of Family
Farming’. We hope that the launch of GC
Management will contribute to the impro-
vement of the livelihoods of small farmers
around the world and help them to better
work together and thus strengthen their
market position in local, regional and
international markets. It should also help
to improve food security, sustain rural
economies and biodiversity and keep
traditional systems and knowledge alive
for future generations of small family far-
mers.
Authors’ details
Gerald A. Herrmann (g.herrmann@
organic-services.com) and Mildred Steidle
([email protected]) are the
Directors of Organic Services - Interna-
tional Management and Strategy Con-
sulting, Germany. For more information
about the functionalities and capabilities
of GC Management please visit www.
group-certification.com or www.organic-
services.com
16 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
Springbockvley Farm, Namibia
ekkehARD külBS, JuDiTh iSele & WieBke VOlkmANN
The efficiency of low input livestock farming
Brazil and the World Football Cup, how does this affect organics?
Brazil and the World Football Cup, how does this affect organics?
BY AleXANDRe hARkAlY
17ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
Brazil and the World Football Cup, how does this affect organics?
Brazil and the World Football Cup, how does this affect organics?
BioBrazil Fair-Biofach 2013 took place during the month of protest.
This summer the whole world heard about the street protests in Brazil. On just one day (11th July) there were more than 30 protests in different parts of the country! What is the background to these protests? Brazil has enjoyed 16 years of new social aware-ness and the Labour government is now in its third term, with Labour Party President Dilma Roussef having inherited all of the positive results of the Lula and Fernando Henrique years. At the same time, however, the country is widely reported as having invested more than R$ 30 billion (circa 9.25 billion Euro) in building infrastructure (stadiums, airports, streets etc.) for the 2014 World Cup. It is this fact that has outraged so much of the population in a country where there are still 12 million people living at hunger level, where hospitals are full and health care is poor, where the highways are badly maintained, where the education system is struggling and teachers are very badly paid and where the judicial system is ama-zingly inefficient. The protests were triggered when the bus fares in many cities were raised in line with last year’s inflation. People asked why they had to pay this increase when such massive investments were being made for the World Cup, an event which did not seem to be providing any direct benefits to the people. A free and peaceful movement called the ‘free pass movement’ triggered the protests.
Photo: A
lexander Joe
18 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
established by 5 NGOs from São Paulo city, with which has
engaged in talks with the House of Representatives, and pro-
moted lectures and other events, leading several deputies to
announce their support for the organic movement. To create a
whole set of laws for organic products in Brazil, it is necessary
to engage with deputies and senators.
Yet at the same time, organic products in the supermarkets
are generally expensive and sales are concentrated among the
elite. The latest consumer profile studies show that 92% of
organic consumers have an income of U$ 7800/year or more
(this in a country where the average income is U$ 4140/year).
There is still much work to be done in order to consolidate
organics as a popular movement.
The government has announced an ambitious Plan (Plano
Nacional de Agroecologia e Agricultura Orgânica – National
Plan for Agroecology and Organic Agriculture) with funding in
running to several hundred million Reals . President Dilma was
at the launch ceremony and seemed to take a real interest.
This plan is intended to stimulate the organic sector with trai-
ning, credit, research, public purchasing of organic produce
and other actions. It remains to be seen how this plan will fit
within the new political order being drawn by the streets and
It seems that the country has woken up to the ruling classes’
inability to solve the major problems and challenges facing
the country. The ruling classes are worried and do not know
what to do. They have suddenly realised that political protests
are being organized by civil society without any participation
by political leaders! They have ‘missed the train’ because they
were blind to the feeling of protest growing on the streets.
Throughout June, there were protests on the streets every day,
some with 50 participants, some with several thousands. On
June 20 more than 1.4 million people demonstrated across the
country.
What does all this have to do with the organic movement?
On one hand we can say that the organic movement has
gained a place on the streets of Brazil: there are an amazing
number of organised street markets (more than 186 in 50
cities!), special health food shops, supermarkets, and crèches
and schools where organic food is provided. The Ministry of
Agriculture has registered more than 11,000 organic operators
in the country (probably the tip of the iceberg). All these deve-
lopments involve popular mobilisation, organising a movement
that can talk with the authorities and negotiate more space
for manoeuvre. Recently a parliamentary platform has been
BioBrazil Fair-Biofach 2013. Photo: Francal Feiras.
19ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
At present the Ministry of Agriculture records show that there
are 10,000 farmers registered as organic. The plan is to reach
50,000 in the next 3 years. The government will accept not
only certified farmers but also those who are validated through
participatory systems and engaged in direct sales. In the
coming a further 17 or so participatory control groups will join
the 4 that are already approved, bringing more than more than
1,000 farmers into the organic fold.
What is the state of the organic movement in Brazil today?
•In2012saleswereworthU$500M(circa375MEuro);
•50-60%oforganicproducegoesforexport;
•Twothirdsoforganicsalesgothroughsupermarketsand
the rest through specialised shops, deliveries and street
markets;
•Imports(fromtheUSA&EU)arevaluedatUS$25M(circa
18 million Euro).
•Reportsshowaverystrongincreaseinorganictradein
2013.
At the end of June, Bio Brazil Fair | BioFach Latin America
and NaturalTech became the nationwide trade show for the
if it will be implemented effectively. Its main focus will be on
production, the use and conservation of natural resources,
knowledge, trade and consumption. The main features of the
programme are shown below.
•R$6.5billionincredittoorganicandagroecological
producers.
•R$758millionforastateadvisoryprogrammeforfar-
mers.
•R$600millionforaccesstowater.
•R$165millionforthepurchaseoforganicandagroeco-
logical food by government agencies.
•R$150millionforseedacquisitions.
•R$100millionforsupportofwildharvesting,agroeco-
logy and organic agriculture.
•R$65millionforresearchandextension.
•R$24milliontopromoteorganicandagroecological
products.
•R$17.5millionforseedbankstructure.
•R$15milliontosupportactionsbyyoungpeople.
•R$8.4milliontosupportactionsbywomen.1
1 At the time of writing I Brazilian Real = 0.32 Euro
COuNTRY PROFILE
Brazil’s immense potential in ‘biodiversity products’ – such as acai, guaraná, nuts and oils from the Amazon.
Photo: Alexandre Harkaly
20 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
organic sector. According to Abdala Jamil Abdala, President of
FRANCAL, (the owner of the trade show) “The large number of
people in the aisles and booths, professional buyers as well as
the consuming public, prove the success
of this edition.” Between 27 and 30 June,
21,485 visitors (including industry professio-
nals) attended the fair, tasting and purcha-
sing products from over 200 exhibitors. The
number of professional buyers was 20%
higher than in 2012.
One of the main new factors that added
power to Bio Brazil Fair this year was the
partnership with Nurnberg Messe, promo-
ter of German BioFach – the world’s most
important organic trade fair, which also
promotes events in India, China, Japan and
the United States – and IPD, Institute for the Promotion of Deve-
lopment, Partner at Apex-Brazil in Brazil Organics which seeks
to stimulate Brazil’s exports sector. According to Ligia Amorim,
Director General of Nurnberg Messe Brazil: “Noting the potential
growth of the organic sector, BioFach Latin America returned to
Brazil in partnership with Bio Brazil Fair. The goal is to combine
our efforts to generate business, providing knowledge exchange
through inviting international speakers and
to increase product visibility on the world’s
markets. Brazil’s organic fair is now definitely
a major event in the world calendar of the
organic sector. Despite the short lead time, we
managed to attract visitors and exhibitors from
various countries including Poland, Argentina,
the Netherlands and Peru. We can say that this
partnership promises good market results.“
The ninth edition of the event’s International
Forum was attended by stakeholders from
the organic world from different countries to
discuss international market trends and oppor-
tunities for Brazilian products in the global market. Speakers
included representatives of the Organic Trade Association (OTA)
of the USA and Canada, the former OTA President and IFOAM
Board Chair Katherine DiMatteo.
Young professionals are being trained by IBD veteran inspector in Belém, an acai producing region.
Photo: Alexandre Harkaly
“Brazil’s organic fair is now definitely a major event in the world calendar of the organic
sectors”
21ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
Exports from Brazil to the rest of the world are also increasing.
Organics Brazil (the national export promotion agency for orga-
nic products), supported by APEX (the federal export promo-
tion agency) record that a total of U$ 195.2 Million of organic
products have been exported in the last two years, mainly to
Europe and the USA. Ming Liu, Director of Organics Brazil has
helped Brazilian organic companies attend more than 25 interna-
tional trade shows over the past 5 years.
Recently certified Brazilian organic producers have seen sig-
nificant increases in demand. Will this affect the international
market? Will Brazil become an important importer and exporter
of organic products?
Brazil’s immense potential in ‘biodiversity products’ – such
as acai, guaraná, nuts and oils from the Amazon – and the
development of national and international markets don’t just
depend on research and product development.
It is also necessary to educate people about local social and
environmental realities and consumer demands for quality and
traceability.
If Brazil manages to overcome its social problems and those to
do with logistics, infrastructure and bureaucracy, it may take off
into the 21st Century, like the flying saucer envisaged by Nie-
meyer. The organic sector is trying to play its part in making this
happen!
World famous architect Oscar Niemeyer recently designed the cultural Museum of Niteroi, on the opposite side of Guanaba-
ra Bay from Rio de Janeiro. This is a projection of the country’s future, but in reality the trajectory of the Brazilian economy
remains a challenge. Rio de Janeiro in the background stands as a symbol for Brazilian leadership in international events.
Photo: Alexandre Harkaly
22 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
BY ROB BARNhOORN
Sustaining soil fertility
APPROACHES AND THEIR WIDER APPLICABILITY
Agricultural researchers and international ex-perts frequently point out that organic agricul-ture yields less than conventional agriculture. In the article “The crop yield gap between organic and conventional agriculture” published last year in Agricultural Systems1, the authors com-pared conventional and organic agriculture, analysing 362 sets of yield data and found an average difference of 20% in favour of conven-tional agriculture. Another important finding was that the yield gap between conventional and organic farming tends to get bigger when opti-mal growing conditions are met. In my view, this raises the question of what will happen under far less ideal circumstances. This is obviously of key interest to farmers, particularly in tropical regions.
23ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
SOIL
Soil fertility management
Agricultural researchers Kees van Veluw
and Merijn Bos have extensive experience
in soil fertility management in tropical
agriculture. From 1995 until 2001 van
Veluw worked for UNICEF as an agricul-
tural advisor in northern Ghana. A board
member of Organic Agricultural Projects
in Ghana (ELPG), he continues to visit the
country every year. “Northern Ghana is
an area with red-coloured, poor tropical
soils which have a low capacity to retain
moisture and bind minerals and, as such,
they exhibit extremely low fertility levels.
As a result, applying chemical fertilisers
does not have much of a positive effect.
The only way to change this situation
is by providing the soil with sufficient
organic matter. This can be done through
mulching, manuring or adding compost.”
Van Veluw saw how this worked in nor-
thern Ghana: “Local farmers adopted the
compost approach with some scepticism.
But after two years, farmers reported that
the use of compost had led to softer soils
with higher moisture levels. The increased
soil water storage capacity proved to be
very important. Due to climate change
the rainy seasons are less reliable and
are usually interspersed with dry spells
that might persist for weeks in a row.
Compost-enriched soils can then make a
difference, providing seedlings with just
enough moisture to get through a dry
spell.”
These farmers’ maize yields went up
from 1,000 kg/ha to 3,000-4,000 kg/ha.
Meanwhile, a reduction of slash and burn
practices, in uncultivated fields and forest
patches, led to much more organic matter
being available for compost production.
Urban waste proved to be another reliable
source of organic matter for compost.
Kees van Veluw likes to point out that he
does not favour any dogmatic approach:
“I would not say that chemical fertilisers
are poison, but they won’t do any good
unless you provide sufficient organic mat-
ter to your field to get the soil’s mineral
binding capacity in shape. Only then
would an additional input of chemical
fertiliser provide some extra nutrients that
could be well used.”
Fellow researcher and agroecologist
Merijn Bos has analysed how the Sekem
farming system in Egypt has greatly
improved desert soils by applying com-
post and green manure. He examined the
contribution that compost made to incre-
asing organic matter levels in poor soils,
improving their robustness and reducing
vulnerability to the effects of climate
change. This led to a large increase of
the carbon concentration in the upper soil
layer (upper 50 cm) within just four years.
Carbon levels rose from 3.9 tonne/ha (the
normal level in desert soil) to 18.1 tonne/
ha, more than four times as high and indi-
cating a comparable increase in organic
matter levels.
Agroforestry
Another succesful farming approach
in tropical regions is agroforestry, a
smart and sustainable combination of
woody perennials and agricultural crops.
Examples include: traditional homegar-
dens with several tree layers, including
fruit trees; rice/teakwood cultivation
systems; the ‘alley cropping’ concept,
which uses nitrogen-binding Leucena
hedgerows with crop rows in between;
and last bwut not least, cacao and/or
coffee growing under shade trees. In
2010, Merijn Bos and others2 evaluated
one hundred agroforestry-systems in
eastern Congo, where cacao growing is
combined with shade trees. Bos affirms:
“This approach provides a strong boost to
organic matter levels, while mitigating cli-
mate change-related effects and guaran-
teeing biodiversity in a region where mas-
sive deforestation is taking place.” Kees
van Veluw has seen agroforestry in action
in northern Ghana: “One farmer alternated
forest strips with corn fields. He collected
leaves from the forest and deposited them
on the cultivated lots, creating a mulch
layer. The mulch strongly reduced the
impact of raindrops (‘splash erosion’) but
also increased soil moisture retention and
the amount of humus released to the soil.
A welcome side effect of this particular
agroforestry system was that traditional
but largely forgotten vegetables, such as
Amaranth, spontaneously emerged again
and were recognised and promoted by
elderly village women.”
Long-term effects
Yield studies usually compare the cur-
rent position of conventional and organic
farming systems but do not take into
APPROACHES AND THEIR WIDER APPLICABILITY “local farmers
adopted the compost
approach with some scepticism.
But after two years, farmers
reported that the use of compost had led to softer soils with higher moisture levels.”
Let’s join forces on our way to sustainability!
We set up emission reduction projects in developing countries and generate sustainable carbon credits through organic composting.
We develop and manage composting projects and help farmers improve soil fertility.
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the environment. Rijk Zwaan. www.rijkzwaan.com
423797RZW_adv187x126.indd 1 03-02-11 09:17
25ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
before serious fertility losses became
obvious. In the 1970s and ’80s when I
travelled through German winegrowing
areas situated on sandy soils, I could spot
mineral deficiency symptoms for nitro-
gen, potassium and magnesium (yellow
and red leaves) by mid summer. Due to
organic matter depletion, low-lutum soils
(soils with a low clay particle content,
predominantly sandy) lost their capacity
to effectively bind minerals. A few heavy
rainshowers would suffice to leach out an
entire chemical fertiliser dressing!” Most
winegrowers reacted by increasing fertili-
zer amounts and/or application frequency,
without producing the desired results. In
the 1980s and ’90s organic winegrowers
in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
started to make use of undergrowth
again, including sowing green manure
crops. Within a few years, the mineral
account any long term effects. Jan Oude
Voshaar, a pioneer organic winegrower
in the Netherlands, points out that, in the
long run, European conventional systems
on sandy soils run the same risk of a
soil fertility collapse as the African red
soils, discussed above. He draws on an
example from European viticulture: “In the
1950s and ’60s, European winegrowers
massively adopted new cultivation tech-
niques, getting rid of undergrowth and
abundantly applying chemical fertilisers in
combination with herbicides, insecticides
and fungicides. This greatly reduced the
required field labour and yields steeply
increased, so winegrowers saw a double
bonus! A far less noticeable effect was,
however, that the organic matter contents
gradually fell. Because these soils origi-
nally had a high organic matter content,
it took as long as fifteen to twenty years
deficiencies disappeared and slope ero-
sion was significantly reduced. Seeing its
effectiveness, neighbouring non-organic
winegrowers enthusiastically emulated
this approach of using undergrowth, thus
restoring their fields’ soil fertility levels.
Unfortunately, outside these countries it is
still mainly only organic winegrowers who
apply this form of soil fertility manage-
ment.
We can conclude from this that organic
soil fertility management is not based
on idealistic but unpractical foundations.
Rather, it is a matter of using sound prin-
ciples for securing long-term soil fertility,
taking into account local circumstances
and combining local knowledge with long-
term experiences from elsewhere.
Tomek de Ponti, Bert Rijk, Martin K. van
Ittersum; Agricultural Systems 108 (2012)
1-9 : The crop yield gap between organic
and conventional agriculture
Koopmans, C.J., Bos, M.M. & Luske, B.;
Resilience to a changing climate: carbon
stocks in two organic farming systems in
Africa. Louis Bolk Institute, Driebergen,
The Netherlands
Authors’ details
Rob Barnhoorn, M.Sc. is an agronomist
and journalist/translator in the fields of
agriculture, food and the environment.
E-mail address: [email protected]
An earlier version of this article appeared
in the April 2012 edition of ‘Ekoland’, the
Dutch organic magazine.
26 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
Productivity and profitability of organic agriculture in East Africa
In their 2008 study for UNCTAD/UNEP Organic agriculture
and Food security, Rachel Hine, Jules Pretty and Sophia
Twarog stated that: Organic agriculture can increase agricul-
tural productivity and can raise incomes with low-cost, locally
available and appropriate technologies, without causing envi-
ronmental damage. (1) All case studies which focused on food
production (2) have shown increases in per hectare productivity
of food crops, which challenges the popular myth that organic
agriculture cannot increase agricultural productivity.” In fact,
Pretty et al. (2005) had found that average crop yields covering a
variety of systems and crops increased by 79% when sustaina-
BY PeTeR TON
Organic agriculture is generally applauded for its sustainable production of food, feed, fibre and fuel, without the use of any contaminants such as synthetic pesticides and fertilizers or genetically-modified organisms. The organic crop management practices contribute to enhancing the resilience of farms and rural livelihoods against erosion and climate extremes (drought spells, heavy rains). So far so good, but what about the productivity and the profitability of organic farming systems? We here discuss the case of East Africa based on a recent literature review.
Comparing organic farming systems
Productivity and profitability of organic agriculture in East Africa
27ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
ble agricultural practices were adopted. Re-analyzing the same
database, Hine et al. (2008) found an even higher average crop
yield increase for all African projects (116%) and for the projects
in East Africa (128%).
Confusing claims
In a 2012 literature review in Nature, however, authors Verena
Seufert, Navin Ramankutty and Jonathan A. Foley find that orga-
nic yields in developing countries are on average 42% lower than
conventional. The meta-analysis by Seufert et al. does not make
explicit mention of East Africa, yet it is evident that their findings
do not match with those of Hine et al. How come? What can we
learn from this for positioning organic agriculture in the global
debate on the intensification of smallholder agriculture?
Comparing organic farming systems
Comparing farming systems is complex by nature. Comparative
organic research would ideally consider different types of farming
with same crop and cropping system and which are geographi-
cally close. The comparison would comprise plants or trees of
the same variety and of similar age. Also, the farmers conside-
red should ideally be from the same socio-economic group and
© B
ill & M
elinda Gates Foundation
28 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
position and have equal access to resources (land, water, labour,
inputs, capital). Data would ideally distinguish farming by women
and men. In comparative research actually there is no end to the
number of parameters to study and keep ‘constant’ in order to
draw relevant conclusions.
The literature review clearly revealed that such comparative orga-
nic research is very scarce: through Internet and library searches
and contacts with key experts only one single in-depth compara-
tive study was encountered for East Africa. In-depth research in
organic farming systems was also found to be scarce, while most
studies available consist in a qualitative description of the orga-
nic system without any quantification or information about the
characteristics of projects’ participants. Organic research is likely
limited due to its subordination in general funding for agricultural
research. There is clearly a need for new, reliable and relevant
comparative organic research.
Understanding productivity claims
To understand the contradicting productivity claims above, we
have to go back to the source documents and consider the
contexts of production. Seufert et al. refer mainly to publications
about high-input agriculture in developing countries. Hine et al.
(2008) and Pretty et al (2005), however, refer explicitly to small-
holder production. They look into organic agricultural practices
in resource-conserving agriculture; i.e. to organic-compatible
cultivation practices which cannot be equated with an organic
system.
In “The economics of certified organic farming in tropical Africa:
a preliminary assessment”, the Danish researchers Peter Gibbon
and Simon Bolwig (2007) confirm that smallholders participating
in three organic conversion projects studied in Uganda did incre-
ase their productivity and their income as compared to other far-
mers. Gibbon & Bolwig stress that smallholders in East Africa do
not generally have access to farmer education and training. The
organic conversion projects studied did provide smallholders with
access to appropriate agro-ecological knowledge and expertise.
The yield gains achieved are likely to be linked to access to far-
mer education and training rather than to the production system
being certified organic.
This conclusion holds important implications for promoting
smallholder agriculture in East Africa. In fact, smallholders can
quite easily improve their productivity and their production if they
gain access to adequate professional knowledge and expertise.
Organic conversion projects appear to be well-geared towards
providing such farmer education and training and therefore merit
further promotion and support.
Understanding the organic model in place
Seufert et al.’s general conclusion is that, globally, organic yields
are lower than conventional depending on crop, species and pro-
duction system (rain-fed/irrigated). A main technical explanation
for this yield gap is the lower availability of nitrogen (N) at peak
period (i.e. the fruiting stage).
Yet, certified organic production in East Africa increased an aver-
age 8.5 % per year in the period 2007-2011 according to IFOAM
data. Two-thirds of crop area is in Uganda and one-third in Tan-
zania.. How to understand that organic agriculture is sustained in
East Africa and is gaining increasing market share? The answer
lies in the specificity of the organic value chains. Comparing
organic and conventional farming systems is not sufficient to
understand the “organic model” in East Africa.
In 2011, over 330,000 farmers were involved in certified-organic
production in East Africa, growing a wide range of crops for
export (coffee, tea, cotton, tropical fruits, spices, etc.). These far-
mers make a living out of organic. They do so under a production
and trading model based on contract farming.
Contract farming is an institutional arrangement that provides
participating farmers with access to markets. Access to markets
may favor the time and the effort which farmers spent on the
contracted crop. Future comparative research should therefore
take such contractual arrangements into account.
Understanding profitability
The profitability of farming is a function of:
Produce x Quality x Price - Costs of production
The monetary costs of organic production are usually lower than
for conventional due to a reduced use of external inputs (e.g.
29ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) depending on crop and production
system. Many organic farmers can thus afford to have a some-
what lower yield. In East Africa, however, this argument does
hardly apply while most smallholders use few external inputs for
reasons of cost and limited availability, and yield improvement is
common in organic conversion projects.
The organic farmers in East Africa generally fetch a higher price
for that part of their produce which meets export quality. The
remaining produce is sold at conventional prices on local mar-
kets. The premium price for the quality product compensates in
part for higher costs in processing (e.g. grading, cleaning etc.).
When the organic premium price is insufficient to compensate for
higher costs, farmers will simply opt out as none of the farmers
are tied up to the organic scheme beyond the seasonal contract.
More so, farmers have repeatedly opted out of organic schemes
even when still under contract. This ‘side-marketing’ may occur
in particular when conventional market price is higher than antici-
pated. Enforcement of contracts is difficult in the contexts of East
Africa. Farmers’ continued voluntary participation in the organic
schemes may therefore be considered a proxy for profitability.
What can we learn from the review?
Important yield and production increases are possible in East
Africa with organic agriculture. Organic agricultural practices pro-
vide an opportunity for smallholders to improve the productivity
and the profitability of their farming operations without recurring
to expensive solutions or increasing their indebtedness.
Organic production in East Africa is largely an institutional arran-
gement in which exporters organize smallholders to produce and
process certified organic produce for export to well-established
organic markets in Europe, the USA and Japan. The smallhol-
ders are provided with training and extension services and they
receive a premium for produce that meets the exporters’ specifi-
cations. The training provided as part of the institutional arrange-
ment between exporters and smallholder producers is critical to
achieving productivity and quality gains.
Finally, the review finds that in-depth academic research on orga-
nic agriculture in East Africa is very scarce and merits support.
Actors are encouraged to prioritize comparative research into the
impacts of organic agriculture in terms of productivity and profita-
bility as well as on resilience and food security.
1) The literature review was commissioned by IFOAM under the project OSEA II which works on regional cooperation for organic standards and certification capacity in East Africa.
2) Seufert et al. (2012), Comparing the yields of organic and conven-tional agriculture. In: Nature, No. 485 (10 May 2012), pp. 229-234.
Certified-organic production in Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi is still very small.
30 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
The Belgian organic sector grew significantly from the late 1990s until 2001 but then experienced five years of decline and stabilisation. The sector started to grow again in 2006 and since then, both organic production and consumption have continued to grow steadily.
Organic growth in BelgiumAfter a period of stagnation the Belgian organic sector has once again started to grow.
BY PAul VeRBeke
31ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
Considering the low level of organic
production in the Flemish region
(compared to neighbouring countries),
and being convinced of market opportu-
nities in the organic sector, a programme
entitled “Bio zoekt Boer” (Farmers wan-
ted for Organic) was started in 2009.
The main aim of the project is to provide
primary information about the technical,
social and economic feasibility of organic
farming. The programme has been quite
successful, and has led to many farmers
converting to organic production. The
most important success factor is pro-
bably the support and collaboration of
2 traditional farmers’ organisations, the
Algemeen Boerensyndicaat (ABS) and
Boerenbond (BB), who have worked toge-
ther with BioForum Flanders. A second
project, ‘Bio zoekt Keten’ (Organics seek
[supply] chains) is intended to develop
market opportunities for the organic sec-
tor.
Organic food consumption
According to a study commissioned by
VLAM and carried out by GfK, the sale of
organic food products reached 417 million
Euro in 2012 (a 7% increase compared to
2011). Fresh organic food has a market
share of 1.9% and the largest sectors by
market share are organic meat substitutes
(24.5%), eggs (8.9%), vegetables (5%)
and bread (3%).
Distribution channels
Conventional supermarkets are the main
distribution channel with 44.4% of the
market, a relatively low market share
since they account for about 70% of con-
ventional food sales. Specialised organic
grocery stores have grown strongly and
have a market share of 31.5%.
The Delhaize and Colruyt supermarket
chains both offer a wide range of pro-
ducts. Their shops are spread across the
whole country and can be found in most
neighbourhoods in every town. Most of
their organic products are packed under
their own private organic brands. The
Colruyt Group also has an organic super-
market chain, named BioPlanet, which
has 9 stores.
In recent years other supermarkets, such
as Spar (half of the Belgian Spar shops
belong to the Colruyt Group) and Makro
have also started stocking organic pro-
ducts. Lidl and Aldi only sporadically
have organic products.
Apart from the supermarkets, there are
approximately 365 specialist organic
shops, most of them independent. Howe-
ver, two chains of shops have joined
forces for purposes of purchasing, pro-
motion and quality control, sharing the
same name and identity. In Flanders the
Bioshop chain unites 20 such shops. Ori-
gin’O has 15 shops.
These shops usually offer a range of
organic products that differs from that
available in the supermarkets. These
include whole grain products, products
without any sugar and/or food additives,
all kinds of vegetarian products and so
on. Apart from fresh products (such fruit
and vegetables) and general groceries
they usually sell a wide range of (often
imported) organic bread and a choice
of organic cheese. They also often sell
ecological cleaning and beauty products.
These shops mainly appeal to regular
buyers who are convinced of the quality
of organic products.
Quite a large proportion of organic far-
mers (an estimated 30 to 50%) market
their organic products themselves. They
COuNTRY REPORT
The DelhAize AND COlRuYT SuPeRmARkeT ChAiNS BOTh OffeR A WiDe
RANGe Of PRODuCTS.
32 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
ingredients and processed food products.
A lot of imported products come from the
Netherlands, France and Germany. No
precise figures are available for the import
and export of organic produce.
Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that
for, fresh products, the Belgian sector
prefers local produce. For example, if
the supply of organic eggs cannot meet
demand, the sector will first try to con-
vince local farmers to convert and invest
in organic production.
Beef and pig production
In Wallonia, organic beef production plays
a major role in the organic sector. In the
wake of the BSE and food crises in 1999
and 2000/2001 the demand for organic
meat grew explosively. However, after
the crises passed, demand decreased
again. Today, 8.6% of the national beef
cattle herd is organic. There are far fewer
organic pigs: only 10,300 animals were
kept organically in 2012, less than 1% of
the total.
Belgium has just 10 organic butcher’s
shops. Delhaize supermarkets have sold
organic meat for several years, while Col-
ruyt supermarkets only offer a very limi-
ted number of meat products (although
Bioplanet has a wider range). Unlike the
conventional meat sector, organic meat
usually comes from Belgian farms and
processors. According to a study by
BioForum Wallonie, more than half of Bel-
gium’s organic meat is exported. At the
either sell their produce at the farm or at
a market or offer a weekly box of fruit and
vegetables that consumers can pick up at
a sales point of their choice. CSA (Com-
munity Supported Agriculture) farming
and self-harvesting initiatives are quite
new in Belgium, but seem to be very suc-
cessful.
Belgian food products in general and
fruit and vegetables in particular have an
excellent international reputation. Nevert-
heless, the majority of organic farms
and companies are relatively small and
diversified. This makes it difficult for the
sector to compete with larger farms and
foreign companies. The Belgian market
cannot be seen in isolation from the sur-
rounding European market. If demand
on the French or German markets is very
high, this gives Belgian producers more
export opportunities. As Belgium is a very
small country, with an extensive road
system and small organic sector, imported
products account for an important part
of the market for primary products, food
BelGiAN fOOD PRODuCTS iN GeNeRAl AND
fRuiT AND VeGeTABleS iN
PARTiCulAR hAVe AN eXCelleNT iNTeRNATiONAl
RePuTATiON.
33ECOLOGY & FARmING | 3-2013
the Biogarantie label takes products bey-
ond minimum organic standards.
There are quite a lot of foreign organic
products on the Belgian market, with one
or more labels. In Belgium, the most well-
known are ‘EKO’ from the Netherlands,
‘AB’ from France, and the German labels.
Foreign organic products can also obtain
the Belgian Biogarantie label. This facilita-
tes recognition by the Belgian consumer.
Some products comply with the
standards of the biodynamic movement,
but only a few Belgian farmers follow
Demeter standards. Demeter products are
only sold in specialised organic shops.
Paul Verbeke is supply chain manager with BioForum, the Flemish organic association: e mail [email protected]. For more details about the Belgian organic sector you can visit: www.bioforum.bewww.biogarantie.bewww.biowallonie.be
same time, there is a great demand for
fresh ham to be dried.
Vegetables and fruit
Some cooperatives/auctions such as
Bel’Orta and BFV sell organic fresh fruit
and vegetables produced by their farmer
members. They concentrate on Belgian
products and make it easier for large
buyers such as supermarket chains and
wholesalers, to find large quantities with a
good quality and continous delivery. Des-
pite this more than 50% of organic fruit
and vegetables sold in the supermarkets
are imported because of a lack of Belgian
products. In the off-season (January to
April), vegetables tend to come from sou-
thern countries such as Spain, Morocco
and Egypt, while a lot of fruit is imported
from the Southern hemisphere in off-
season (e.g. apples from Chile, Argentina,
New-Zealand or South Africa).
Processed food products
A significant proportion of organic proces-
sed food products is imported, including
bread, pasta, other cereals, and dairy
products. At the same time Belgian com-
panies also export a lot of their organic
products. High quality products such as
‘Ganda’ ham, specialty cheeses, choco-
late, beer, fruit juices and other local spe-
cialties are exported throughout Europe.
Biogarantie
Most organic products sold in Belgium
bear the Belgian ‘Biogarantie’ label, a pri-
vate label that has been in existence for
more than 30 years. It is owned by Bioga-
rantie vzw, a non-profit organisation which
represents the Belgian organic sector.
It can only be used on certified organic
products after payment of royalties and
membership.
The Biogarantie standards are broader
than European legislation and take into
account different aspects of sustainability
during production and handling. Therefore
Strengths and weaknesses of the Belgian organic sector
The Belgian organic sector has the following strengths:
•Thereisagrowingtendencytoconsumehealthyfoodandorganicfood
fits this description perfectly.
•Thereisagrowinginterestinenvironmentally-friendlyproduction;itis
increasingly accepted and known that organic agriculture is more environ-
mentally friendly than non-organic agriculture.
•Thenationalmarketfororganicproductsappearstobegrowingeach
year by 10% to 15%.
•Organicproductscanbefoundinmostsupermarkets,andthisstimu-
lates sales and market penetration.
On the other hand, it is clear that the sector also has several weak points:
•Non-organicfoodproductsalsotrytosellthemselvesasbeinghealthy.
With so many products making health claims, consumers often cannot see
the wood for the trees.
•Belgiumisaverysmallcountrywithaveryextensiveroadsystem;itis
therefore every easy to import products from the surrounding countries.
•Organicproductsarerelativelyexpensivecomparedtonon-organicpro-
ducts, and this reduces growth opportunities within the organic sector.
•Fewfarmersdaretoconverttoorganicagriculturebecauseoffinancial,
social and practical constraints.
34 3-2013 | ECOLOGY & FARmING
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Ecology & Farming is a magazine for all elements of the organic movement - from organic farmers’ associations to organisations from the organic food industry and Fair Trade; from research institutions to certifiers; from organic consumers to organic advocates. Ecology & Farming provides information on key issues in the organic sector and offers the space for discussions on the topics of the day. The articles published in Ecology & Farming reflect the opinions of their respective authors and should not be interpreted as an official IFOAM position.
IFOAM The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements is the umbrella organisation for the organic movement. Established in 1972, IFOAM has over 800 affiliates in more than 100 countries. and represents the common interests of the organic movement based on the principles of organic agriculture (ecology, health, fairness, care). IFOAM’s mission is to lead, assist and unite the organic movement in its full diversity.
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