Organic Agriculture in Development

Seminar

24 November 2006

The weekly radio programme Miljømagasinet at Danish Radio P1 had a special 45 minutes' edition on organic farming in developing countries broadcastet on the 01.12.06.

Please finde text and soundfil here: http://www.dr.dk/P1/Miljoemagasinet/Udsendelser/2006/11/30130349.htm
(the main language is Danish allthough some interviews are in English or Swedish)

The persons interviewed are: Andrew Stewenson, UNCTAD, Gunnar Rundgren, EPOPA, Henrik Egelyng, Danish Institute of International Studies, Hanne Carus, Danida, Ingelis Dissing, farmer and adviser, Levi Tobi, farmer in Uganda, Samuel Neancy, Tropical Ecological Fruits of Uganda.

The programme was produced by Ulla Skovsbøl.

Background

Globalization and increased international trade has a vast impact on agriculture and food systems all over the world. For some countries globalization causes a general technological and structural modernisation of the food production, but in many low-income countries large proportions of the population cannot access the technology and production inputs that are preconditions for benefiting of the globalisation.

Organic farming are characterized by the use of local resources – and thereby independency of expensive inputs like fertilizers, pesticides etc. During the last decade, it has been demonstrated that modern, organic food systems can provide a relatively high and stable production. On this basis, several international organisations (IFAD, FAO and several NGOs) have acknowledged organic farming as a feasible approach to provide food security for small-holders and resource poor groups in low-income countries.

In addition, the production of organic foods might provide opportunities for exporting high value food products to consumers with considerable purchasing power. Currently, the demands for organic products, including tropical, organic products are rising in both Europe and the US.

Furthermore, organic agricultural production is seen as tangible efforts to create sustainable environmental development. Compared to industrialized production, organic production results in a higher biodiversity and less damage to the environment.

However, in order to take advantage of the possibilities embedded in the organic production it is essential to develop agricultural systems adapted to local conditions, and to supply the technical and biological knowledge indispensable for a sustainable development.

On this background the objective of the workshop is to introduce challenges and potentials of organic farming as a tool for development in low-income countries.

A panel of internationally acknowledged experts will spotlight relevant issues in the fields of organic farming, integrated crop production, biodiversity, human nutrition, and the role of organic production in Africa from farmer perspective, from NGO perspectives and micro- and macroeconomic aspects of sustainable production. Discussions will focus on potentials and constraints for organic/ integrated production systems that can lead to development and improved livelihoods for resource-poor farmers.

The intention is that the seminar will provide a broad introduction of the possibilities of organic and integrated farming. It is thus the hope that the seminar will contribute to a discussion of what research and what developing aid is most beneficial for improving the livelihoods for resource-poor farmers in low-income countries.

Presentations

Brian Ssebunya, Amfri Farms, Uganda

Michael Hauser, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU)

Andrew Stevenson, UNCTAD, Geneva

Gunnar Rundgren I, Export Promotion of Organic Products from Africa (EPOPA)

Gunnar Rundgren II, CBTF-IFOAM cooperation in East Africa

Peter Neuenschwander, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Benin

Markus Knapp, African Insect Science for Food and Health (ICIPE)

Nanna Roos, Department of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen (former KVL)

Organizers

Research School for Organic Agriculture and Food Systems (SOAR)

Danish Research Centre for Organic Food and Farming (DARCOF)

Danish Network for Agricultural Research for Development (NETARD)

Sofie Kobayashi, - last update:30 October 2009