Contributions of Organic Agriculture to SARD

Organic agriculture contributes to the sustainable diversification of rural economies through income generation and job creation in a manner that preserves and enhances the quality of the natural resource base. It revitalizes rural areas by opening new opportunities for rural development that have multiple growth linkages within and outside the organic sector. Organic agriculture can be important in enhancing the territory’s overall image and increasing the demand for regionally-branded food and for promoting eco-tourism.

Promoting Organic Agriculture through Participatory, Negotiated Territorial Approach

Organic agriculture can be promoted both as an individual choice and a territorial option, which needs the interest of local stakeholders and involves extensive participation of, and negotiation with, other actors. For this purpose FAO stresses the importance of the Participatory and Negotiated Territorial Development (PNTD) strategy to promote sustainable rural development on regional basis.

Sustainable and multifunctional rural development based on organic and competitive agriculture (SIMOCA)

A recent project of member countries of the Central European Adriatic Danubian South-Eastern European Space (CADSES) developed a model for setting up and implementation of sustainable and multifunctional rural development based on organic and competitive agriculture (SIMOCA) and defined a new strategy paper, with an FAO contribution, to promote rural development based on the growth of organic farming.