Participants from 12 Asian countries have agreed to move forward on concrete measures to reduce barriers to trade of organic products between them and win a growing share of global trade.

The agreement was reached at a workshop held in Shanghai from 29 to 31 May under the auspices of the Global Organic Market Access (GOMA) project run jointly by FAO, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and UNCTAD.

With the organic sector in much of Asia growing fast, workshop participants acknowledged the critical need to facilitate organic trade through harmonization of organic standards and measures to establish equivalence among both organic standards and conformity assessment systems.

Growing share
Commenting from FAO Headquarters in Rome, Alexander Mueller, Assistant Director-General of the Natural Resources Management and Environment Department said that "Asia as a common organic market will facilitate the growth of domestic markets while contributing to open and transparent trading. This will significantly enhance income opportunities for smallholders as well as give consumers better choices for quality foods on market shelves and indirectly, improve environmental health.”

Increasing demand and purchasing power in Asia are expected to boost Asia’s share of the global organic market, worth $50 billion in 2008, from three percent that year to 30 percent in the medium term.

But the problem is that Asia’s organic sector is managed by 7 national regulations, 154 domestic certification bodies and some 50 foreign certification bodies. Its future growth thus urgently requires recognition of the various organic claims to facilitate trade in the region and beyond.

Asia’s organic farmers planted 6 million hectares in 2009 to grow over 135 product types consumed locally and exported mainly to the EU and US.

Organic labeling
Aiming to develop a framework for cooperation on organic labeling claims in the region, workshop participants agreed on a series of concrete actions to be supported by GOMA, including the establishment of a regional working group of interested parties to spearhead progress in three areas: harmonization, equivalency and cooperation arrangements.

The immediate task of the working group will be to develop a common Asian Organic Standard, suitable for addressing various degrees of sector development and regulation - from the 10 years old consolidated system in India to non-regulated markets of smaller Asian countries - while reducing duplication and cost of organic certification.

Public and private sector representatives from the following countries attended the workshop: Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam.

For further information please contact: Diane Bowen, GOMA Project Manager, email - [email protected].

More information at:
http://www.goma-organic.org/