News Stories
Organic farming on spotlight
by Seniorl Anzu (11/06/09)
Organic agriculture is rapidly growing all over the world and this provides an unprecedented opportunity to systematically plan its future in PNG and the Pacific, says NARI Principle Economist Dr Keshav Kshirsagar.
“Overseas markets are showing tremendous interest in organic agriculture in the Pacific and it is essential to ensure that farmers are empowered to take advantage of the emerging opportunities offered by the continuously rising organic product markets all over the world, particularly in USA and EU,” he said.
And the good news is this has gained recognition in recent years from member countries with support of regional and international organisations after the Pacific Island community has missed out on marketing organically grown foods for many years.
Dr Kshirsagar highlighted this after attending the fifth Regional Organic Task Force (ROTF) meeting in Fiji recently. More than 30 participants representing Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Niue, PNG, Cook Islands, Tahiti, Kiribati, and New Caledonia deliberated on the issue and planned the way forward. The meeting was also attended by representatives from Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and consultants from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations.
He added that the major constraint in developing organic agriculture has been the absence of certification bodies in the island nations, including PNG.
“Besides the non existence of certification bodies, there were no organic standards, poor record keeping, and high cost of certification involved in meeting the organic standards of an importing country,” he said, adding that although “there are only a small number of typically larger enterprises which have individual certification”.
Dr Kshirsagar said organic farming is now receiving some attention in Pacific Island countries with concerted efforts made by farmers, farmer associations, exporters, researchers, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and other organizations to promote it in this region.
He said the initiatives are also assisted by IFAD and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements with support from SPC. Under these initiatives, the task force (ROTF) was constituted to develop organic agriculture in the region; besides help developing the regional organic standards and certification infrastructure in Pacific countries. ROTF is also expected to facilitate the development of a regional strategy and national plans to lay the foundation of sustainable organic agriculture development in the region.
Currently, the certification services are mainly provided by the certification agencies based in and/or operating from Australia and New Zealand and the process of obtaining certification is bulky and very long.
Dr Kshirsagar, who represented NARI, said those countries that participated are represented in the ROTF which contains representatives from NGOs, agricultural Ministries, leading agricultural research and educational institutions, farmers and processors (private sectors), organic associations, and organic certification inspectors.
SPC’s Land Resources Division, which is supporting the development of organic agriculture in the Pacific, coordinated the Fiji meeting.